Desire vs Duty
by slytherin-kittycat
Summary: Hermione is a model student, she always does what's right. Draco is out to destroy everything Hermione believes in. What happens when these two enemies happen upon a curse which sends them somewhere far from Hogwarts, with no one to help them return?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and everything you recognize belongs to J.K. Rowling, the plot however is all mine.

**Summary: **It is their 6th year at Hogwarts. Hermione is a prefect, a model student, and has just begun a new relationship, the year starts off splendidly. Draco Malfoy is also a prefect, and he is out to destroy everything Hermione and her friends believe in. So what happens when this naive muggle-born and this prejudiced pure-blood happen upon a curse that throws them into an unknown world far from the safety of Hogwarts?

**Rating: **This fic is rated T for language and possibly some scenes later on (I'm not sure yet)

**A/N: **I am including as much of the plot from HBP as I can, however, I began writing this fic before HBP was released, so there are several differences between this fic and the real book. I hope that doesn't bother anyone. On the other hand, if you have not read HBP yet, be aware that this fic will probably contain some spoilers.

Also, a heads up to everyone reading this fic. If you are looking for a story with a quick romance and lots of snogging, then this is _**NOT**_ the fic for you. If however, you are looking for a fic with a plot, intense emotions, and a lot of tension, then you've come to the right place! This will eventually be a DM/HG romance, however it will take long time to happen, and it will move slowly. So, to all who decide to continue reading, I hope you enjoy it, and please review so I know how you like it!

Without further adieu, I present to you, "Lost"

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**Chapter 1: Diagon Alley**

_It was the dead of night, and dozens of hooded figures stood in a circle awaiting the ceremony to begin. Their robes were so dark that they were hardly distinguishable from the blackness of the night surrounding them. A lone figure stood in the center, his skin so white it appeared to glow in the darkness, and his snake-like eyes as red as fresh blood. _

_Somewhere far off in the distance, a clock chimed midnight. In the circle of hoods, one figure sucked in a breath and stiffened. Just like that, with the simple chime of a bell, he'd gone from being the boy he'd always been, to being a man worthy of power and respect._

_The figure in the center of the circle called in a cold, snake-like voice, "Come, let us begin."_

_Two figures stepped from the circle to the center; the other hoods closed ranks so that all three figured were now enclosed. The shorter figure lowered her hood revealing a strikingly blonde woman with an extremely pointed face. The woman was tight lipped, and wearing a frown, as if would rather be just about anywhere other than where she was. _

_The wizard beside her mimicked her actions and slowly lowered his hood. He had the same blonde hair as the witch. His features, while pointed, were stronger and more determined than the witches. His steel gray eyes were expressionless, he did his best to show no sign of fear though he was shaking like mad on the inside, and he thought he might throw up because of the nerves. He gulped, and stood up straighter as the Dark Lord turned his blood-red snake eyes upon him._

"_Kneel," Lord Voldemort commanded._

_The young man dropped to his knees hard, almost as if some invisible force had shoved him down. Instinctively, he bowed his head._

"_Present your left forearm."_

_The young man lifted his head and did as he was told without hesitation, and without taking a breath. He felt as if he breathed, he would vomit, and that would simply not do._

"_Draco Malfoy, you hereby present yourself, on your sixteenth birthday to become a full member of Lord Voldemort's followers. As a Death Eater, you pledge you life to serving the Dark Lord. It that understood?"_

"_Yes my Lord," the young Malfoy responded without hesitation._

"_As a part of this pledge, you are bound to perform all tasks required of you. Should you fail, or refuse to complete the task, you will be killed, is that understood?"_

"_Yes my Lord."_

_Lord Voldemort took the young man's arm in his icy spidery fingers, and in his other hand, he raised a long yew wand, with the core of a phoenix tail feather. In an agonizingly slow motion, Voldemort lowered the tip of the wand to the young man's skin. From the instant it touched, Draco knew nothing other than pain._

The memory of the pain threw the young blonde from his dreams. He was sweating and breathing hard. He reached over to the bedside table and grabbed his wand "lumos" he muttered, and a bright sphere of light erupted from the tip and threw a blinding white light into the cold darkness of his room. He held the wand in his right hand, and pointed the tip at his left forearm. There it was, in all its splendor, a serpent intertwined with a frightening skull, the ultimate symbol of power. A cruel smiled spread across Draco Malfoy's lips as he viewed the Dark Mark, the symbol of his Master.

Seeing the blood red Mark sent a wave of pride coursing through him, and as he thought of the task to which he has been assigned, his pride swelled ten times more. His Master trusted him with a task that most of the adult Death Eaters would have never dreamed of undertaking, but Draco had accepted it with utmost confidence. His Master trusted him, and he was determined to succeed.

- - - - - - - - - -

With the exception of the ceremony, things had been rather quiet around the Malfoy Manor all summer. Although Draco did have his task to look forward to once he returned to Hogwarts, there was not much he could do about it now. Lucius was still in Azkaban, no thanks to that good-for-nothing Potter. Narcissa spent nearly all of her time off somewhere or another, doing things that she never revealed to Draco. He was sure it was Death Eater duties, but he was a tad resentful that she didn't tell him where she was off to while she knew good and well what Draco's top-secret task was.

Needless to say, things had been pretty boring around the Manor for Draco. Sure it had been nice at first, he slept as late as he pleased, had free rein of doing whatever he wanted whenever he wanted. He had complete control of the house elves, who were terrified to not do as he commanded. Not to mention the fact that without Lucius around, he had been spared the usual weekly lecture about not being the number one student in the school. But after the first month, the novelty of the situation wore off and Draco found himself in need of something to do. In fact, he was so bored that he would have almost welcomed another ranting lecture from Lucius about how he was unworthy of being a Malfoy, how he was a spoiled brat, and how he was a pathetic excuse for a wizard. At least it would have added a little interest to his mundane summer.

Despite the fact that nearly every conversation Draco and Lucius had ever had involved Lucius somehow putting Draco down and making him feel like crap, Draco was still furious with Potter for landing his father in Azkaban. Draco knew that Lucius only treated him so roughly to make him stronger and more prepared for the real world after Hogwarts. Draco valued the lessons his father had taught him about being tough, hard work and discipline. But Potter had stolen Draco's father from him, and Draco was determined to make him pay dearly for it. And the task the Dark Lord had placed upon him was the perfect way to make Potter regret the day he decided to cross the Malfoy family.

Indeed, Draco had been trying to make Potter pay ever since their first trip on the Hogwarts Express back in first year when Potter had refused Draco's offer of friendship. But no matter how hard he tried, Potter always managed to weed his way out of trouble, no thanks to his two meddlesome sidekicks, and the professors who worshiped him. But this year it was different, Lucius' imprisonment was a huge blow to the Malfoy name, the Dark Lord and the Death Eaters were openly active once more, and Draco was not going to rest until Potter and all his good-for-nothing friends had gotten the punishment they deserved.

That was the main thought that Draco had been brooding over the entire summer, which put him in a rather bad temper most of the time. It was the mood he was in as he traveled through the floo network to Diagon Alley a week before school was to begin. In addition to needing new books, he needed to restock his potions supply, and purchase some new robes as he had grown a bit over the summer, and his old ones were a tad too short.

He stepped gracefully out of the fireplace, somehow completely free of soot and dust, not a spec of dirt crossed his pale skin or his shockingly blonde hair. He had arrived in the Leaky Cauldron, a small, dark, yet friendly pub that served not only as the entrance to Diagon Alley from the muggle world, but also as the floo network entrance to the Alley. Draco glanced around the pub, saw some witches gossiping over brunch, and he even saw a couple of goblins, most likely taking an early lunch break from their jobs at Gringotts, which was where Draco was headed. One major upside to Lucius being gone was that Narcissa had given Draco a spare key to one of their Gringotts vaults, which meant that he had full access to a hefty portion of his family's extravagant fortune. This thought brought a haughty smirk to Draco's face as he sauntered down the street to the massive white building that was Gringotts.

Once inside, Draco walked directly to one of the goblins at the desk, he gave him the vault number and the key. The goblin at the desk then called over another goblin, who led Draco through a pair of large doors to the carts. Draco seated himself in the cart, and braced himself for a wild ride. He didn't at all mind the speed of the carts, but ever since he was very young, he had been wary of flying off the carts if he wasn't careful, most likely because his father had threatened that was what would happen if he didn't hold on. The cart sped deeper and deeper below the ground, so deep in fact that even with the lantern the goblin held, the cavern seemed pitch black.

Suddenly, after a good few minutes of speeding past the vaults, the cart came to an abrupt halt in front of the small row of Malfoy vaults, they had three full ones in total, and that was just in Gringotts. Draco was visiting the left vault; he stepped smoothly out of the cart, and handed the key to the goblin. As the goblin used the key to open the various hidden locks on the door, Draco looked around in the pitch black cavern. There were no torches this deep underneath the wizard bank, and Draco had the suspicion that it was too damp for the fires to stay lit very long down here, even with magical aid. Plus, he reminded himself, very few people probably ever got to travel this deep to the truly high security vaults were located.

Upon hearing the creak of the giant metal door, Draco turned and set eyes on the mountains of gold which lay before him. It was a truly grand sight, and his silver eyes reflected the sparkle of the gold as he stepped inside amongst it. He took out his money bag, and stuffed it to the brim with gold galleons, not because he really needed that much money, more just because he could as there was no one to stop him.

Once he was finished at the bank, the gold in his money bag weighing down his pocket and clamoring to be spent, he stepped out into the blinding sunlight. It took him a moment to regain his eyesight, and even then he had to squint, Draco had never really enjoyed intense sun, he preferred the shade, so he quickly chose a shop, and entered to avoid the heat. The shop he had chosen was Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions because out of all the things he needed, getting fitted for robes would probably take the longest, and he didn't want to have to carry around books and school supplies all day anyway.

As soon as he entered, Madam Malkin bustled over to him, "can I help you?"

"Yes," answered Draco importantly, "I need a new set of Hogwarts robes."

"Of course, right this way," Madam Malkin led Draco over to the fitting mirrors and began taking his measurements. As she was working, Draco observed the people passing out the window with a lazy expression on his face. They were mostly small groups of witches out for a day's shopping, however he did see a few groups of Hogwarts students, though none who he would ever be caught dead speaking to. Once Madam Malkin was finished with the measurements, she disappeared to fetch the appropriate sized robes; Draco stepped off the platform, and continued to watch the passing people. Much to his disgust, a head of red passed by, and next to it followed a head of bushy brown hair. Draco sneered in disgust, the weasel and the mudblood, Potter's two pathetic sidekicks. But wait a moment, there were the sidekicks, but where was Potter? Draco stepped closer to the window, but still saw no sign of the pathetically annoying boy-who-lived. 'Could it be' reasoned Draco, 'Weasel and Granger actually have lives of their own?' Draco turned his attention to the retreating backs of Potter's friends, and was repulsed to see that they were holding hands. A disgusted sneer crawled over his face, of course it was no surprise to him that Granger and Weasley had gotten together, Draco thought it had been obvious for ages, or at least since the Yule Ball fourth year. But still, actually seeing the pair of them together brought a horrible feeling to his stomach.

The clearing of a voice behind him pulled Draco's attention away from his school enemies and back to the shop. He turned, and took the sets of robes from Madam Malkin. He then went to the counter to pay for them. By the time he was finished purchasing his robes, he decided to grab a bit of lunch before buying his books, so he returned to the Leaky Cauldron. He chose a seat partially hidden in the shadows in the corner. It was a spot where he could observe without being observed. Draco found that he enjoyed people watching; he was very observant and could often catch tiny physical cues that indicated someone's thoughts. They were the types of cues that most people would miss. Draco was proud of his observational skills, and he always used them to his advantage.

Yet at the moment, there were no particularly interesting people to observe, so he lowered his eyes from the room and instead perused the menu for a moment. Once he decided on what sounded like a decent meal, he ordered his food from the old waitress on duty. As he waited, he scanned the room for an interesting customer to observe. To his disappointment, the place was mostly filled with middle-aged gossiping witches, hardly anyone worth observing for any length of time.

Draco rolled his eyes, looking extremely bored in his lonely corner. He turned his head to the waitress when she returned with his meal, but before he lowered his head to begin eating; his eyes caught a flash of red. Draco shifted his chair so that he could observe two of the students who had helped make his school life a living hell over the past five years. Weasley and Granger were lunching together in an even more secluded spot than Draco had chosen; no doubt they thought they would not be seen. Draco smirked as he watched them, 'busted!' he thought with pride, thinking that if he had to have seen them, then at least he had something to taunt them about as soon as they got back to school. But still, even with the knowledge that he would be able to piss them off first chance he got, watching them now was incredibly difficult for Draco to stomach. It was clear that they were flirting, and it was disgusting for him to witness. Weasley was so acting so awkwardly that it was like watching a comedy show of how a guy should not behave around girls. Although, Draco reasoned, obviously Granger has no clue how a guy is supposed to behave around a girl either, since she spends all of her time around the two most clueless guys on earth, and when she's not around them, she's in the library, not much valuable experience with males to be found there.

Draco found it astounding that people could be so naïve when it came to appropriate behavior around the opposite sex, but these two were shining examples of how clueless some people could be. As Draco was finishing his meal, he noticed even from across the room that Weasley's movements were becoming jerky and even more awkward then usual. Then all of a sudden, as Draco was taking a drink of his butterbeer, Weasley practically fell into Granger and planted a kiss on her lips. Draco couldn't help himself; he spat his butterbeer all over his plate and attempted to cover up a choked cough. From what he saw, Granger had been just as taken aback as he was, maybe even more so, though rather than nearly choke herself to death, she was kissing Weasley back. Draco cringed as if he had just eaten something revoltingly bad; he felt his lunch threatening to come back up if he watched the two Gryffindors any longer. Draco shut his eyes as tight as he could, and vigorously rubbed them as if hoping to erase what he had seen. He felt like he needed to wash his eyes out from the disgusting horror he had just witnessed. Desperate to get away from the Gryffindor couple, he threw some gold onto the table and flew out of the pub as fast as he could without running or making a commotion.

Once he was back outside, he shook his head in an attempt to rid himself of the vile image of Weasley and Granger lip-locked. Desperate to distract himself from the grotesque images crowding his conscience at the moment, he made his way to the apothecary to replenish his potions supply. And then he was off to Flourish and Blotts. Before purchasing his schoolbooks, he browsed the titles to see if anything caught his eye. Occasionally in the past, buried amongst the shelves he had spied an interesting volume, but not this time. With a slight sense of disappointment, he gave a shopkeeper the titles he needed, and within moments, was handed a stack of thick books. He paid for them, and exited the shop once more. Deciding that he might as well replenish his ordinary school supplies such as parchment ink and quills as well, he headed over to a small store that happened to be located next to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. He scowled furiously at the store, disgusted by the fact that the Weasley twins actually owned a highly successful shop here. And even more disgusted with himself for actually being tempted to enter the filthy store. He rolled his eyes before passing it by.

After completing the necessary shopping, he headed to Quality Quidditch Supplies. Nothing served to heighten his mood like quidditch, unless of course he was playing against Potter in which case it just made his mood ten times worse. He admired the sleek firebolt sitting in the shop window; however his pride prevented him from even considering buying it. He refused to buy anything that Potter considered good, Draco knew he was better than Potter, and therefore would be lowering his standards if he settled for what Potter had. So rather than marvel at the broom as so many other young boys were, Draco toured the store. He admired a set of quidditch balls, but refrained from buying them as he really had no use for them while he was at school. Earlier in the summer he may have been tempted, but now there was really no point.

So, with a slight feeling of disappointment, and no new quidditch supplies, Draco exited the shop. Once he was back in the street, he glanced down the entrance to Knockturn Alley. He had one minor bit of business to attend to with Mr. Borgin in Borgin and Burkes so he traveled there to get business over with.

The shopkeeper was as sniveling and pathetic as ever, but with on glance at the Dark Mark which was emblazoned on Draco's left forearm, he immediately took Draco's orders seriously. They discussed the matter of a particular Vanishing Cabinet that Draco was highly interested in repairing, and then, Draco quickly exited the shop. He knew that in these times it was not wise to linger in Knockturn Alley, particularly when you had a father who was in Azkaban for being a Death Eater.

Upon exiting Knockturn Alley, Draco noticed a small shop positioned in between the two Alleys which he had never taken the time to notice before. As it linked the entrance between Knockturn Alley and Diagon Alley, and Draco was not entirely sure which Alley it was meant to belong to. There appeared to be no sign which only served to heighten Draco's curiosity.

He slowly strode over to the shop, and stepped inside. A tiny bell sounded distantly within the shop, and with the exception of himself, there were no customers. He paused, expecting to see a shopkeeper, but when no one came, he shrugged and began browsing the merchandise. Nothing in the store seemed to be a glaringly dark magic item, but it didn't seem like the type of stuff one would find in any of the other shops in Diagon Alley either. Rather, all of the items in here seemed to be a transition between the two. Which, Draco figured was probably the reason for the shop's placement in between the two alleys. It wasn't until he reached the left wall that he saw something that really spiked his interest.

It was a silver statue, barely the size of Draco's hand. The statue depicted a stalking panther, it had royal blue jewels for eyes, and its mouth was open as if it was ready to attack. Draco admired it for a moment, and was about to reach out and touch it when an old voice broke the silence. "Ahh, I see you are a young man with a taste for power."

Draco spun around instantly, and found himself facing the ancient looking shopkeeper who was surprisingly close. He was indeed very old, but he had the air of a healthy active man, rather like Dumbledore, minus the annoying muggle-loving part. "I beg your pardon?" asked Draco firmly, for he really had no idea what the shopkeeper had meant by his comment.

The old man grinned knowingly, "the panther is a symbol of power, it is one of the rarest and most powerful magical animals in the world." Draco raised his eyebrows skeptically, he had always considered himself to be rather knowledgeable of powerful things in the magical world, yet he had never heard of panthers being particularly magical. The shopkeeper seemed to have read Draco's thoughts as he continued speaking, "They are so rare because there are two types, a non-magic type, and an immensely powerful magical type."

Draco didn't bother to hide his look of confusion as to why the old man was telling him this. Instead he continued to listen, intent on asking what the silver panther did without seeming overly interested or excited, for Malfoy's were never either of those things.

The old man continued with his tale, "You see, there is a type of panther that muggles are familiar with, yet those animals all have yellow eyes. However, as you can see, this model has blue eyes; they are the only way to tell a magical panther from a non-magic one."

Draco frowned and finally decided to interrupt, "and what is it that panthers do that makes them so powerful?" His tone was doubtful, as if he didn't think that the shopkeeper was telling the truth.

The old man grinned, "Panthers are probably the most intelligent, and most respected of all magical creatures, therefore, they can control most any other animal. The roar of the panther strikes fear and commands obedience from even the most dangerous a magical beast. They are deathly protective of what is theirs, be it a mate, their cubs, their territory, anything they value. It is for this reason that they are known as the protectors of all magical creatures. They will do anything to keep what is theirs safe," Draco looked mildly impressed at these pronouncements. The man continued, "Panthers also are able to become invisible for limited periods of time, which is the main reason why magical panthers are so rarely seen. And finally, when blue-eyed panthers feel a particularly large surge of magical energy, they can leap so far that some claim they are flying."

Draco could not help but show interest in response to the last to facts about panthers. He turned to again admire the silver panther statue, "so, does thing actually do anything?"

"Indeed it does. This statue has been cast with panther blood in its core, therefore, it embodies the power of the panther. The keeper of this statuette, in time will be able to harness some of the powers of the panther."

"You're saying whoever own this would be able to become invisible?" asked Draco skeptically, finding it a bit more difficult to restrain his interest now.

"You would have to harness quite a bit of the statues power, which takes much time and quite a bit of magical energy. You would also have to fully trust in its ability, but yes, given enough time, you would be able to become invisible for short periods of time. Of course you understand that the statue only works as long as you are in possession of it; otherwise it is just another silver statue."

Draco examined the panther statue more closely, he wasn't sure he believed what the old man said, in fact he doubted it very much, but as he had the money to spend, and had promised himself a gift, he went for it. The old man seemed very pleased with Draco's choice, though Draco suspected that was just because the man probably didn't get very many customers in his tiny store. The man offered to wrap up the statue, but Draco preferred to carry it himself. As he took the figure, he noticed that the eyes seemed to momentarily shine brighter, but he blinked and the feeling was gone, so perhaps he just imagined it. He pocketed the panther, and with his money bag much lighter, but his spirits lifted, he made his way back to Gringotts to refill his money bag, simply because he could.

Two wild rides on the Gringotts carts later, Draco returned to the Leaky Cauldron along with his purchases to return home. Subconsciously, his eyes glanced over to the shadowed corner where he had spied Weasley and Granger earlier, but apparently they had long gone. Draco scowled as the images from the afternoon returned to the forefront of his thoughts. He tossed some floo powder into the fireplace, shouted 'Malfoy Manor!' and stepped inside. It was a bit rougher traveling this time; his bags were tossed around into him as he went spinning through the floo network. He stumbled slightly when he finally arrived in the Manor, but he still managed a more graceful exit than most people can achieve even on their best days. Luckily, as it was his own house, no one was around to see the perfect Draco Malfoy stumble.

As soon as he dusted his robes, he dropped his bags and called to one of the house elves, ordering him to deliver the bags to his room immediately and pack them in his trunk. The house elf bowed so deeply that its long ears drooped to the ground, and his nose pressed against the shiny polished wood floor. Then the house elf proceeded to wordlessly carry out Draco's order. Draco meanwhile, glided through the imposing rooms and through the halls with the high ceilings to one of their many family rooms. He settled himself in the brown dragon leather couch in front of the grand fireplace, which was crackling with warm flames. Though this room was larger than the rooms in most people's houses, it was one of the smaller rooms in the Manor, which was why Draco liked it. He often found that too much empty space made him feel rather isolated, but this room was just the right size in his opinion, especially when one was alone in the Manor. He leaned his head back against the arm, and pulled the panther statuette out of his pocket. He ran his fingers along the smooth sleek surface, and looked deeply into the jeweled eyes, trying to see if they would shine again. It was only then that he noticed that something had changed, the mouth was no longer open in attack position, and instead it was closed. Draco frowned and furrowed his brow, wondering when that change had taken place.

He held the panther in his hand so that it stood upright on its own, and continued to examine it, when something happened that nearly caused him to drop it in surprise. The panther moved. Its head turned from side to side, as if examining its new surroundings. It leaned its head down apparently to sniff Draco's hand. It then walked back and forth across the palm of his hand, and apparently deeming it satisfactory, curled up for a little cat nap. Draco was a little disappointed that that was all that happened, but perhaps after it had a while to sleep; it would do something more exciting. In the meantime, Draco decided to do a little research to see if he could discover how to tap into the statues powers, if that was even possible, which he still doubted. Draco figured that he would first attempt to confirm that what the old shopkeeper had told him about panthers was true. Surely at least one of the books in the family library would have something about panthers.

Draco's steps echoed through the cavernous hallway as he strode purposely to the library, the panther statuette safely slumbering in his pocket. He opened the heavy wooden door and found himself surrounded by tall shelves of books. Most of the books in here were harmless enough, just the classics you would expect any old wizarding family of great wealth to own. However, hidden amongst them were also a great number of dark magic books. Books which Lucius always tried to keep Draco out of by saying that he would be able to read them when the time came. 'Ha, no Lucius to stop me now,' thought Draco defiantly. But somehow, the lack of challenge turned Draco off the idea, it wasn't as though he actually cared what was in those books, he just wanted to read them because it was forbidden. But if he knew no one would stop them, the books suddenly lost their appeal. Besides, he had come here with a purpose, and that was what he intended to accomplish. The only problem was he had no idea where to begin looking. 'Did the Malfoy library contain any books on powerful magical creatures?' Draco had to assume yes, though he couldn't recall ever coming across one himself.

Draco shrugged and began his search, starting in the area which contained the books that started with 'P' figuring that it was as good a place as any to begin a search for a book about panthers. Surprisingly enough, it was not long before he found a title that seemed appropriate, _Panther: A Feline of Power and Perfection_. Draco smirked and pulled the shiny ebony book off the shelf. He ran his finger over the silver title on the front cover, and saw that it was emblazoned with two brilliantly blue eyes, the same color as the jewels in his panther model. He removed the statuette from his pocket, and carefully placed it on the desk, it was still sleeping. Draco slowly opened the book, and began to read.

It was well past dinner time when the rumblings of his stomach finally ordered him to leave the library and go to the kitchen. Draco marked his place in the book and carefully returned it to its proper spot on the shelf. He noted where it was so he could come find it again. The statue had awoken a short while ago, and was now prowling stealthily across the desk amongst the quills and ink bottles. Draco scooped it up, and then he swept out of the library towards the kitchens to demand that the house elves serve him dinner.

- - - - - - - - - -

In her family's flat outside of London, Hermione Granger awoke to a bright and sunny morning the week before the Hogwarts Express was due to leave for school. She awoke in a good mood, but could feel nervous butterflies fluttering excitedly in her stomach. She glanced at the alarm clock by her bed; she still had time for breakfast and a shower before she needed to leave. She munched on a croissant as she watched the morning news, and then she slipped into the shower. As she washed her overly frizzy hair, she giggled slightly at the butterflies that were continuing to stir restlessly in her stomach. Thinking about who caused them brought unexpected smile to her face. She couldn't believe that Ron Weasley, one of her first two friends at Hogwarts was the cause of these nervous butterflies. She had been fancying Ron a bit ever since fourth year, even though she had gone to the Ball with Viktor Krum. She had had a splendid time that night, but couldn't help occasionally thinking that she had wished Ron would have asked her first. But as the saying goes, 'better late than never' and indeed the saying was true.

Hermione slipped out of the shower, for once thankful that she was in the muggle world and not the wizarding one. She blow dried her hair with a muggle hair drier, which served to make it much straighter and less bushy than usual. 'Too bad it never looks like this at Hogwarts' she thought to herself as she critiqued her reflection in the mirror. It wasn't that Hermione cared about her looks really, but occasionally even she sometimes found herself wishing she could look nicer, like the other girls in her year. Not that she would ever ask any of them to help her look more like them. She had too much pride for that, plus she had a feeling that if she allowed Lavender or Parvati to make her over, they would go way too far. No, she was much happier being herself, even with the bushy hair, than she would be if she tried to be someone else.

As she traveled through the London Underground towards The Leaky Cauldron, her thoughts again drifted to the source of the butterflies, the guy she was traveling to meet with right now. Ron and Hermione had been growing closer over the years, especially during fifth year. They had spent so much time together without Harry, what with prefects meetings, and Harry being so concerned with more important matters pertaining to Lord Voldemort, that they had been able to get to know each other in ways that Hermione had never gotten to know Harry. Especially towards the end of the year, things had been starting to feel a bit awkward all the time they were around each other. It was almost a relief when Harry was around because then the focus was on him and his problems instead of on them, and Hermione found it much easier to ignore her growing attraction to Ron if she was occupying her mind with Harry's problems.

But now that school was over, summer was here, and Hermione didn't have her wizarding friends around to distract her, she had found it much more difficult to erase Ron from her mind, and apparently he was feeling similarly towards her. Hermione was constantly being sent owls from Ron, and it was becoming clearer and clearer in his letters how much he missed her. Seeing the hooting overexcited feather ball which was Pigwidgeon made her heart beat in anticipation of what Ron's letter said. While he never openly said that he liked her, Hermione could read between the lines and get the hint anyway. She only hoped that he was as observant of the meaning behind the words of her letters as well, though when she was honest with herself, she doubted it. No matter how she felt about Ron, as friends or as something more, she had to admit that he was very slow on the uptake, and subtlety wasn't his strong suit.

About a week ago, Pig had arrived with a letter requesting what Hermione had been hoping for all summer. Ron wanted to get together in Diagon Alley a week before school started, and he wanted to meet her without Harry. Hermione did her best to contain herself from jumping around the house like some silly over excited puppy; 'does this mean it's a date?' she kept thinking as she wrote her carefully worded response accepting the invitation, and hoping that it was meant to be a date. She had sent little Pig back with the letter, and began counting down the days until it was time to meet Ron. In his letter, he had said that he was going to get school supplies 2 days before leaving for school, but he wanted to know if they could get together a week before school just to hang out. Hermione had agreed to come to both meetings because she wanted to be with Ron, and she still needed to purchase her school supplies.

Hermione arrived in Diagon Alley the muggle way through the Leaky Cauldron, and she walked down the street to the Post Office where she had agreed to meet Ron. Apparently, Mrs. Weasley had wanted to send an owl out to Charlie, and Errol in his feeble state just didn't seem up to the journey through dragon country. Hermione waited eagerly outside, not sure if Ron would have arrived yet, he wasn't the most punctual person on Earth. Hermione was watching the people, trying not to look too excited when Ron's voice called to her, "Hermione!"

Hermione turned, and was greeted by Ron rushing down the steps towards her. He was taller than ever, his pale skin covered with freckles, and his red hair growing longer and shaggier. Without thinking, Hermione hugged him in greeting, but as this was awkward, she quickly stopped. They were both blushing profusely, though Ron certainly didn't appear to mind the gesture. After a very heavy pause, Hermione broke the silence, "so umm what do you want to do?" She kicked herself after she said it, thinking that it must have sounded incredibly stupid.

"I don't know," said Ron sounding equally unsure of himself, "I just thought we could, maybe, hang out together for a while or something." Ron's voice was shaky and he sounded incredibly nervous, also it seemed as if he had something else on his mind, but for some reason wasn't telling. The pair made a few stabs at conversation, but there seemed to be a huge mountain standing in the way of them behaving as they normally would around someone that counted as one of their best friends. Ron especially seemed as if he was preparing himself for a particularly dangerous quidditch match or something.

They had walked up and down the street three times before Hermione mustered up the courage to say something about the awkward tension between them. "Ron, are you alright?" she tried to sound caring, and not too disappointed at how bad the day was going so far. "You seem preoccupied, and really nervous."

Ron's ears turned beet red, a telltale sign that he was hiding something. He gulped, "Well . . .you see . . . the thing is . . . ." Ron clearly was trying to tell Hermione something, but for some reason was having difficulty finding the words. "it's just . . . .IreallylikeyouHermione!" He blurted out all in one breath before turning even redder and redirecting his eyes anywhere but at Hermione

It took Hermione a short moment to work out what he had said. But once she had, she smiled "I really like you too Ron," she said soothingly. Inside her heart was racing, she was desperate to know for sure if what he had said meant what she wanted him to mean.

"No, not like . . .I mean . . . . I like you as more than a friend." Ron's face was now so red that he appeared to be sun burnt, and he was staring determinedly down at the ground, apparently afraid to made eye contact with Hermione.

Hermione did her best not to look too overjoyed, but her heart was pounding furiously in her chest, and she was positive that the whole street, if not the whole world, could hear it. She felt as if her heart were beating so hard that it was about to burst through her ribcage. She looked up into his eyes (which was rather difficult as he was so much taller than her), "I like you as more than a friend too," she said with a joyful smile.

"Really?" he cried in relief. A huge smile spread over his face. He placed his hands over hers, "then Hermione, would you be my girlfriend?"

Hermione felt like she could have kissed him right then and there, although she didn't of course. Instead she threw her arms around his neck, "I would _love _to be your girlfriend," she cried gleefully.

Ron seemed too thrilled for words; instead he pulled Hermione into a tight hug, and then released her. Together they began to walk back down the Alley in the direction of the Leaky Cauldron. The streets and shops were somewhat crowded, but Ron and Hermione felt as if they were the only two there. They were walking so close that their arms brushed against each other with every step they took, and as they passed Eyelops Owl Emporium, Ron took Hermione's hand in his. Hermione blushed and smiled brightly, though she tried to hide her reddening cheeks. The two of them were so wrapped up in their own world as a brand new couple that they didn't even notice a pair of dark steely gray eyes half hooded beneath a head of shockingly blonde hair following them from inside Madam Malkins Robes for All Occasions.

By the time the two of them reached the Leaky Cauldron, it was lunchtime. Ron led Hermione over to a secluded table in the corner. They sat next to each other and ordered their meals. It was very strange, how two people who had never had before a lack of things to say to one another in all the time they knew each other, could suddenly struggle to maintain a decent conversation. But that's what happens when two best friends finally admit to each other that their feelings run deeper than friendship. Hermione had to work hard to keep from blushing profusely the entire time, and from the looks of it, Ron was facing a similar battle with his reddening cheeks. Yet that wasn't the only thing that was interfering with her conversational skills. After they were about halfway through with their meals, she had felt the strange sensation that they were being watched, though she didn't want to look around to see if she was right.

"Hermione?" said Ron trying to get her full attention.

"Yeah?" she said as she forced herself to ignore the nagging feeling and instead look into Ron's eyes.

"Are you feeling as weird about this as I am?" he asked, with a concerned expression.

Hermione smiled, "probably, I don't know, I just have this weird feeling like someone's watching us, it's creepy."

"That's just nerves," Ron assured her knowledgably, "you just need to relax." Ron rested his hand on top of hers; Hermione immediately felt her heart speed up, she shifted excitedly in her seat, Ron had a strange look in his eye, one she had never seen before. It was almost a hunger sort of look, only Hermione was sure that it had nothing to do with food. Suddenly, he jerked forward, and their faces were smashed together. It took a moment for Hermione to register what was happening, 'He's kissing me!' she thought frantically with her eyes wide open, 'What do I do, what do I do?'

Not knowing what else to do, she closed her eyes and kissed him back, but before she could relax, she felt his lips leave hers. Hermione did her best not to look as completely shocked as she felt. Luckily, Ron took her stunned silence to mean that she was impressed with his kissing skills. He smiled at her, suddenly she felt the tension on his side of the table vanish. Yet, while he was obviously much more relaxed, she only felt tenser, sure she had imagined Ron kissing her, but this was certainly not how she had ever pictured it happening.

It was amazingly exciting, yet at the same time, much less romantic than she had always pictured her first kiss being, in fact it wasn't romantic at all. To the outside world Hermione was a book-worm, not a dreamer. But that didn't prevent her from having a few secret fantasies of her own. They were the sort of thoughts that she did not share with anyone because they were not the sort of thoughts that 'brainy Hermione Granger' should be thinking. Nevertheless, she did have those thoughts, and one of her daydreams was about what her first kiss would be like. She had always pictured her first kiss happening at the end of a romantic date, they would be under the stars, gazing into each others eyes. The wind would be softly caressing her cheeks. His hands (the hands of whoever the 'he' happened to be, she had never pictured a particular person,) would be holding her gently around her waist. He would lean in slowly; her heart would be racing with anticipation and excitement. Then, their lips would touch, the kiss would be gentle and passionate, it would seem to last forever, but when it did end, it would leave her thirsting for more. In a word, it would be _perfect_.

But what had just happened was a stark reminder that reality was never perfect and real life could never match the fantasy she had built up in her mind. She sighed, wondering if Ron realized that kissing her then and there had not been the move she was expecting, or wanting at the moment. But Ron was clueless to Hermione's perception of how things were going. 'What else should I expect?' she asked herself as she rolled her unfinished lunch around on her plate with her fork, 'he's always been clueless, so why would he be any different now?' She looked up and found him smiling at her, and she couldn't help but smile back, even though he was clueless, he was still adorable, like a little puppy that she just couldn't help but love.

The date didn't last much longer. Ron had suggested they go to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor for desert, but Hermione was not in the mood to eat. So instead, after lunch Ron had dragged Hermione into Quality Quidditch Supplies, and she had forced him to endure a visit to Flourish and Blotts. But even a trip to the bookstore wasn't enough to distract Hermione from her thoughts. Hermione found that no matter what she did, she could not remove the thought of the kiss from her mind, even if she only wanted to forget about it temporarily. The fact that Ron was standing right beside her at all times wasn't helping her clear her thoughts any.

After the kiss, Hermione felt like she needed some time alone to think. She still liked Ron and wanted to be his girlfriend, but the kiss had left many questions in her mind. And Hermione was not one to allow questions to rattle around in her conscience for long without being addressed. She had told Ron that she needed time to get home so that her parents wouldn't worry. She reminded him that unlike the floo network, the muggle underground was not nearly as fast and reliable as wizarding transportation. Hermione had had to endure a slight amount of Ron begging her to stay longer, but she had insisted, and in the end he had conceded. Once they were back in the Leaky Cauldron in front of the fireplace, Ron had moved to kiss Hermione again, but she dodged him and instead gave him a soft kiss on the cheek. She could tell he was a little disappointed, so she smiled up at him sweetly and assured him that she has had a wonderful time. Her assurance served to cheer him up, so he smiled and gave her a big hug before stepping into the fireplace.

Hermione replayed the date over and over on her journey home. Surprisingly, she found that the more she thought about it, the less the awkwardness of the kiss bothered her. Sure it had been weird, but she supposed that all first kisses probably felt that way. Especially for someone like her who was rather shy and inexperienced with relationships. 'Yeah,' she tried to convince herself, 'my awkward feelings have nothing to do with how Ron kissed me, it's just because I was nervous.'

By the time she unlocked the door to her flat, she had managed to convince herself on some level that what she was telling herself was the truth. Yet deep down, in a silent chamber of her heart, she doubted herself. Part of her just could not accept the fact that what she had imagined feeling in her fantasy was entirely wrong. That part of her heart craved for the fantasy to be real, and that part of her heart simply could not picture Ron fulfilling those deep, secret desires. Those desires however, were so secret that even Hermione herself was not conscious that she felt them.

The feelings that she was aware of, were that despite the fact that throughout most of the day she had felt unusually awkward and uneasy, she did have a nice time. She felt butterflies fluttering lightly around in her stomach as her mind adjusted to the thought, 'I have a boyfriend'. Despite a valiant effort, she could not suppress a wide overjoyed smile as the thought sunk in. She, Hermione Granger, the bushy-haired Gryffindor know-it-all, had a boyfriend. For the first time in her life, she truly understood why Parvati, Lavender and Ginny always got so giggly when they were talking about guys. Right now, she felt like if the girls from Gryffindor house were around, she'd be able to join right in on all the giggling and gossiping.

Her parents were not home when she returned, but they left her a note telling her to order herself some pizza for dinner and that they had gone out to dinner with some of their dentistry colleagues. Hermione dialed the pizza place, and after ordering, she curled up on the couch with a big book while waiting for her dinner to be delivered. But for once, she found that she couldn't concentrate on her reading. Instead, her mind kept visualizing Ron's adorable face. She giggled happily and smiled to herself, thinking that her life had never felt more perfect than it did right now.

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**A/N:** Never fear, this will turn into a DM/HG fic, but at first there is a little HG/RW and perhaps a bit of DM/PP, But I promise that all the real intense stuff happens between Draco and Hermione. Also, anything I say about magical panthers is stuff I made up, however all other magical creatures mentioned in this fic come from Magical Beasts and Where to Find Them. 

I hope everyone enjoyed the first chapter, and I hope you come back for more when I post chapter two. Please review so I know what you think of it! Thanks:o)

_Slytherin-kittycat_


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and everything you recognize belongs to J.K. Rowling, the plot however is all mine.

**A/N: **Thank you everyone for the support for the first chapter. I'm thrilled that everyone seems to have liked it so much, and I only hope that I can keep everyone as interested and positive in the future chapters. Thanks to everyone who reviewed!

_Sunflower18, comedy-gal, draco2hot4me, midnightwanderer01, Ocean Tranquility, anIme-prYncess, totally-spaz, Miranda, dixie15, steelo, Buck-A-Beak_ – I'm happy to hear you liked the first chapter, and thanks for the reviews!  
_Clear Black Glass_ – thank you, I'm glad you liked it. I started writing it before HBP came out, but originally, Draco was not yet a DE, however since he is one in HBP, I went back and rewrote it, and added the initiation scene. I think it will turn out better with him being a DE anyway, so it's all good.  
_Londonmalfoy _– really? I thought the most dangerous animal was a nundu or something like that. Anyway, I'm glad you like the stuff about the panther anyway :o) Thanks for the review!  
_Fallen Through_ – thank you very much! I'm so happy that you liked it, and I hope the wait wasn't too long. Also good job with your own fic, I'm looking forward to reading more!  
_sweetsummersun31 _– yay, I'm glad I got everyone interested. And yeah, I'm trying to go for a different feel from my other fics, trying to keep things interesting, so we'll see how that works. Thanks for the review!  
_Elektra30 _– lol yeah I guess it was a little childish, I kinda got stuck on that part to tell you the truth. I felt like whatever I wrote just didn't work, but the scenario I chose seemed to me to be the least awkward. There's not gonna be too many more moments like that between Ron and Hermione anyway, I just wanted to set up the relationship without wasting too much time with it. Oh well, I'm glad you like the writing style anyway, and I hope you like this chapter!  
_Sayaku-chan_ – I'm happy that you liked it! And I wanted to say thanks for pointing out the typos in my other fic, I'll try to read though more thoroughly before I post in the future, but thank you for letting me know.

Now for chapter 2!

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**Chapter 2: Back to Hogwarts**

The next time Hermione saw Ron was on August 31st when she met him, Harry, and Ginny in Diagon Alley to purchase their school supplies. Ron met Hermione in the Leaky Cauldron; she smiled sheepishly when she saw him. He quickly stepped forward to greet her with a big hug and a quick kiss. "Hi," said Hermione, not knowing what else to say.

"Hey," answered Ron, "Ready to go?"

"Yeah," where are Harry and Ginny?"

"They're at Gringotts, Harry needed to withdraw some gold from his vault."

"Oh ok," Hermione paused, a sudden thought coming to her attention, "so, have you told Harry about us?"

"Err, no," Ron admitted awkwardly, "Ginny knows, but I didn't know how to tell Harry, I didn't want to make things weird between the three of us, you know?"

"Yeah," Hermione agreed with Ron about not wanting to make things weird, but she was not entirely sure that hiding their new relationship was the best way to go about it. Yet since she didn't have any better suggestions at the moment, she didn't argue.

Ron and Hermione held hands as they walked down the busy street, which was milling with Hogwarts students and their families, all getting last minute school supplies. Yet when they reached the steps to Gringotts they stopped abruptly, and with a tense look at each other, dropped each others hand. No sooner had they let go, than Harry and Ginny came racing down the steps to greet them. Hermione lit up again as soon as she saw her two other best friends. She raced forward to give them both hugs, although for the first time, she felt slightly awkward hugging Harry. She wasn't sure if she was allowed to hug other guys now that she was dating someone, even if they were friends. But Ron didn't seem to react, so she supposed it was alright, which she was thankful for because Harry was her friend too.

The four friends traveled around to all the different shops, buying everything they needed. Hermione and Ron both made a conscious effort not to get to close together, because both could feel the heat rise in the room if they got too close. Ginny kept throwing Hermione knowing looks, accompanied by a smile, and often followed by a silent fit of giggles. Every time this happened, Hermione felt herself blush, though the boys were so thankfully clueless that neither took any notice.

When they were done shopping, the group returned via the floo network to the Burrow. Mr. Weasley had volunteered to pick up Hermione's things from her parents (he literally jumped at the chance to visit a muggle flat that was friendlier than the Dursley's) so Hermione's trunk was already there, along with Crookshanks, by the time she arrived.

As had become tradition, Hermione enjoyed a huge dinner provided by Mrs. Weasley the night before the Hogwarts Express left. The tables were groaning under the weight of the food, and it was all delicious as usual. Everyone ate until they could not fit another morsel into their stomachs. And then, they were all so exhausted, that they nearly fell asleep at the table.

Hermione felt as if she had just lain down to bed when Mrs. Weasley entered Ginny's room and shook the two girls awake. "Come on, it's time to get up, we don't want to be late for the train."

Hermione stumbled to her trunk to find her clothes; her eyes were still half closed with sleep. She fumbled around as she dressed, slowly waking up as she did, so that by the time she had trampled down the stairs with her trunk, she was wide awake. The boys were already downstairs by the time she arrived, both wolfing down eggs, bacon and toast for breakfast. "Hey Humine" said Ron through a mouthful of eggs.

Hermione smiled at the pair of them as she scooped some eggs onto a plate herself.

"Where has Ginny got to?" asked Mrs. Weasley in a huff, "Ginny!" she called. "Hurry up or we'll be late!"

"Coming!" called Ginny from her room. A moment later they heard the banging of a heavy trunk on the stairs. Soon Ginny came panting into the kitchen, dragging her trunk behind her.

"Good, now hurry up and eat, then we can go," said Mrs. Weasley. "Arthur! Can you come get the girls' trunks?"

"Yes dear!" called Mr. Weasley as he came into the kitchen. He aimed his wand at the pair of trunks, and levitated them outside to the Ministry car which was waiting for them.

The journey to King's Cross was uneventful, and though it was unusual, they arrived with about 10 minutes to spare before the train left. They approached the entrance to platform 9 ¾ as inconspicuously as possible, Ginny and Hermione entered first, leaning casually against the barrier until the platform materialized before them.

Just about as soon as they arrived, some of Ginny's friends in her own year waved her over to them. Ginny bid goodbye to Hermione, and ran over to greet them. As Hermione was watching Ginny scamper off, Ron and Harry came up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley followed them and bid them each goodbye with big hugs. The three friends then set off in search of an empty compartment. Along the way they were greeted by several of their school friends, including most of their housemates in their year. Everyone was in a good mood, excited to be returning to another year at Hogwarts.

- - - - - - - - - -

The morning of September first, Draco awoke with a splitting headache and a bad mood. 'Good-bye summer freedom, hello schoolwork, rules, and annoying professors,' he thought miserably. Draco was not eager to return to school, yet nonetheless, he made sure his trunk was packed, and ready to go. Since neither of his parents were around, Draco had written to Professor Snape asking how he would get to platform 9 ¾ and Snape had arranged for him to arrive through the floo network. So, with ten minutes to go before the Hogwarts Express was to leave, Draco dragged his trunk, with an empty owl cage strapped to it, into the fireplace, (he had sent his eagle owl, Bohdan, ahead to Hogwarts because he didn't enjoy being pent up in his cage for long periods of time.)

Draco tightened his grip on his trunk with one hand, and in the other he held a pinch of floo powder. He threw it to the ground and yelled "platform 9 ¾!" Instantly he was hurtling in a spiral, his trunk banging along side. He landed in the fireplace with a thud, his trunk following him with a crash. He shook his head, double checked to assure that he was entirely soot free, and made a beeline for the train.

He loaded his trunk into an empty compartment at the front of the train, and then went off in search of Crabbe and Goyle. He found them standing stupidly on the edge of the platform next to their trunks. They looked lost, as if they hadn't already done this five years in a row. Yet, as stupid as they were, they were exactly the kind of friends Draco enjoyed having around. Only for the fact that they were too stupid to understand what he was saying, so he could dish out insults about everyone, including them, and all they would do would be to guffaw stupidly until he told them to shut up. Draco often thought that they shared half a brain, so they didn't even have one full brain between them, which didn't make them the best conversationalists, but they served their purposes nonetheless. He rolled his eyes as she charged over to them.

"Crabbe, Goyle! What do you two think you're doing! The train is what takes you to the school, not the platform! Grab your trunks and get on!"

Crabbe and Goyle both looked extremely relieved to see Draco. They quickly obeyed his orders (as they always did) and followed him onto the train and into his compartment. For a while Draco seriously considered just complaining about school, Potter, the professors, mudbloods, the students in other houses, Potter, the injustice of their fathers being imprisoned, mudbloods, and of course, Potter. But for some reason, complaining to two gorillas who were dumber than mud just wasn't appealing at the moment. So instead, he pulled out the book about panthers, which he had borrowed from the library at home; so far it was turning out to be a rather interesting read. He had never known how powerful panthers were, but he was definitely intrigued. He was looking forward to figuring out how his panther statue worked, and he was eager to absorb the powers it possessed. So Draco lounged across his side of the compartment while Crabbe and Goyle squashed together into the seats on the other side. They were both so big that is was difficult for them to fit, and even though Draco had plenty of room to spare for one of them, neither dared asking him to move over. They may be physically stronger, but Draco could easily blow them to smithereens with his wand if they gave him reason to, despite their devastatingly low intelligence, that was one concept they both managed to grasp with no trouble.

Draco continued reading until the lunch trolley came rattling by. Crabbe and Goyle looked as if Christmas had come early at the sight of food. They each bought as much food as they could carry (which was a very considerable amount). They then sat stuffing their faces like pigs, making Draco absolutely revolted. As a result, Draco ate his lunch more properly than usual, as if he were afraid Crabbe and Goyle's disgusting habits would wear off on him if he wasn't careful.

Once Crabbe and Goyle had filled their massive stomachs with junk food, Draco beckoned to them to get up. He was bored, and decided the perfect way to occupy his time and cure his bad mood would be to go spread misery amongst the other students on the train. With the thought of causing trouble to cheer him up, Draco put on his famous smirk and led the way through the corridor searching for some targets to torment.

He passed the nearby compartments with barely a glance; they were mostly filled with other Slytherins, and a few Ravenclaws. When he passed the compartment containing Pansy and her gang of Slytherin girls, he heard several of them call "Hey Draco!" flirtatiously at him as he passed. He acknowledged them with a short smug glance and a nod, and then continued on his way, smirking at the giggles he heard once the girls were out of sight. Crabbe and Goyle were still following close behind, although they were completely ignored by the girls. He passed some compartments containing groups of first years, and he amused himself by shouting angrily at them, scaring them with lies about what the sorting ceremony was like, and other such nonsense just to see the fear in their eyes. But spreading fear amongst the first years was not enough to cure his bad mood, they were too easy. He needed more of a challenge. Much to his pleasure, that challenge came in the form of Potter, Granger, and Weasley sitting alone together in a compartment near the end of the train.

He slid the door open, smirking at the three of them. They all glared back at him with looks of hatred which were reserved for him and Snape. Yet something about the scene struck Draco's keen eyes as odd. He had definitely seen Granger and Weasley together in Diagon Alley, much to his displeasure he had yet to be able to free himself of the revolting image of Weasley kissing Granger. Yet now, Granger was sitting by herself, and Potter and Weasel were sitting together.

"Now this is interesting, why is Granger sitting all alone while Weasel is over here next to Potter?" Draco eyed Hermione and Ron skeptically, while all three Gryffindors continued to glare back at him.

"What the hell are you going on about Malfoy?" spat Ron.

Draco smirked at him, "Aww Weasel, has your little mudblood girlfriend already developed enough sense underneath that bush she calls hair to break up with you? Or maybe you figured out that you prefer dating Potter to a mudblood?" taunted Draco, putting on thoughtful façade.

Hermione's glare turned to shock. 'No,' she thought to herself 'he can't possibly know about us, Harry doesn't even know. It's just a coincidence.' Hermione tried to convince herself that what Malfoy said meant nothing, but behind her defiant glare, an odd stirring in the pit of her stomach told her that he knew, somehow he knew.

"Shut it Malfoy," interrupted Harry as he jumped up preparing for a fight. "Unlike you, Ron and I don't date ever girl we come in contact with," spat Harry, thinking he was coming to the rescue of his friends.

Crabbe and Goyle flexed their muscles menacingly as Harry approached, daring him to attempt something. Meanwhile, Ron's entire face went as red as a tomato, and Hermione's cheeks were bright pink, she refused to look anyone in the eye. After a moment, Harry noticed the lack of a comeback from either one of his normally very vocal friends. He turned and saw them both blushing profusely which caused him to be very confused.

It took Draco a mere two seconds to assess the scene and figure out what was wrong. His maliciously excited eyes rounded on Harry; this was more fun than he could have hoped for. "You mean to tell me that your two _best_ friends have been shacking up together and you don't even know about it!" he cried gleefully.

"Shut your mouth Malfoy." Hermione finally yelled, jumping up next to Harry and glaring furiously at Malfoy. Her cheeks were redder than ever with both embarrassment and anger, and she was mortified with herself for allowing Malfoy of all people to see how much his taunts were affecting her.

Draco stared directly back at her, there was a devious smile crossing his face and a devilish glint in his eye. He returned his attention to Harry, "But I thought best friends were supposed to tell each other everything," he said with mock innocence. His expression then turned to a sneer, "So much for best friends," he spat, gesturing to Ron and Hermione. Crabbe and Goyle sniggered thuggishly behind him.

Harry looked half ready to pounce on Malfoy, but the other half of him was dying to hear the truth. Neither of them had denied what Malfoy had said, and that seriously disturbed Harry. Malfoy was right, 'as best friends weren't they supposed to tell each other everything? How could they have thought that they would be able to keep their relationship a secret from him? Why would they want to?'

Draco's lazy drawl interrupted Harry's thoughts, and with a stubborn expression he listened. "You can't honestly tell me that you're surprised about this Potter. Even if they didn't tell you, it's been obvious that they've been mooning over each other since fourth year!"

Hermione let out a small gasp and Ron looked horrified. Malfoy looked even more gleeful at their reactions, but Harry on the other hand was crushed, "Is that true?" he demanded.

But neither Ron nor Hermione seemed to have the guts to answer him, or even look him in the eye. But, in Harry's opinion, their silence was answer enough.

"You mean you didn't even know they fancied each other?" continued Draco sounding absolutely thrilled at Harry's lack of observational skills, "My God Potter how completely oblivious can you be?" Crabbe and Goyle chortled behind Draco.

"Shut up Malfoy!" yelled Hermione. Her fists were balled, and she looked ready to repeat her actions of third year when she had slapped Malfoy for his taunts.

Draco chuckled and smirked, then leaned in towards Hermione. Harry and Ron both made moves toward Malfoy, but Crabbe and Goyle prevented them from getting anywhere near him. Hermione tensed as he neared, but she refused to back away. She wore a defiant expression, her lips pursed tight in a slight frown, her eyes locked with his. When Draco spoke, it was in a whisper that only she could hear. "Tell me Granger, did you grant Weasley a little snogging session after that disgusting display in the Leaky Cauldron, or did you puke in his face out of revulsion from just that one atrocity that was supposed to be a kiss?" Draco reveled in the look of absolute horror Hermione was giving him, this was even better than he hoped for.

"You . . .no . . . you didn't," she stuttered, unable to form the sentence that was going through her mind. Ron was looking at Hermione over Crabbe's shoulder with concern, and both he and Harry were a bit worried when they heard her stutter and saw the look on her face.

Hermione was staring directly into Draco's dark gray eyes, eyes that were as dark and cold as steel. She seemed to have forgotten that there was anyone else in the room besides them. Of all the people to see her and Ron, it had to have been Draco Malfoy, the last person on Earth who she would want witnessing her private life. She was especially mortified that even from across the room he seemed to have read her reaction to what had happened a thousand times better than Ron had been able to. She was breathing heavy, and gazing with horror into his malicious eyes. Yet she knew he wasn't bluffing, she had felt like they were being watched that day, she remembered the feeling, but Ron had told her she was just nervous, and she had accepted that explanation. But, as was usual, Ron had been wrong and she had been right.

Finally Draco slowly backed away a smug look plastered on his pointed face, his eyes still locked with Hermione's. Judging by the fact that all three Gryffindors was still unable to speak and were staring at him furiously, he decided that he had caused enough damage for the time being, so he beckoned to Crabbe and Goyle, and then swept away through the corridor to his own compartment in a much better mood than he had been in all day.

After Malfoy had left, Hermione finally managed to recover from her horrified embarrassment. She glanced around the compartment, when her eyes landed on Harry, she gulped completely unsure of what he was thinking. "Harry?" she ventured in a voice barely above a whisper.

Harry was staring at the spot where Malfoy had been standing, a fixed unreadable expression on his face. "Why didn't either of you tell me?"

"I don't know," whispered Hermione, "we didn't know what to say I guess."

"Yeah, and we didn't want things to be weird between the three of us," said Ron. It was the first time he had spoken since Malfoy arrived.

Harry whipped around to face him with an accusing glare, "Oh, and things aren't weird now! I just found out from _Draco bloody Malfoy_ the student I hate most in the entire school that my two best friends, are dating each other behind my back. How the fuck do you think that makes me feel!"

Hermione flinched at Harry's tone and his words. "Harry we're really sorry," she said immediately, clearly pleading for his forgiveness.

"Why didn't you tell me?" the anger in Harry's voice had turned to disappointment. He was looking at Ron to answer, since for some reason it bothered him more that Ron hadn't said anything than it did that Hermione didn't. But Ron didn't reply, he was looking between Harry and the floor, his ears red with embarrassment, and a guilty look on his face.

"It's just that, after last year, you've had so much more to deal with that we didn't want our friendship to change," said Hermione soothingly.

"But it has, you can't deny that, things are gonna be different if you two are a couple, but that doesn't mean we can't still be best friends." Harry paused, he really did not want to start this year off with a negative attitude, it was hard enough dealing with Sirius' death; he needed to have Ron and Hermione with him. "Look, I just want you guys to be honest with me alright?"

"Alright," said both Ron and Hermione.

"I just have one more question, how long has it been?" asked Harry, half fearing the answer, but needing to know all the same.

"Just a week," said Ron, "we met up at Diagon Alley a few days before you came to the Burrow. How the hell Malfoy knew is beyond me." Ron added with a shrug.

"He saw us in the Leaky Cauldron," said Hermione, she was no longer looking at either Harry or Ron. She was staring fixedly at the floor, her cheeks glowing pink from embarrassment.

"WHAT!" shouted Ron.

Hermione shifted her eyes up to Ron, but she didn't respond, she would much rather drop the subject.

"So it was just a coincidence that he knew then?" confirmed Harry.

"Yeah," mumbled Hermione.

Harry let out a deep breath, "well that makes me feel better; from the way he was talking I thought that you've been together since last year!"

Ron laughed a little too emphatically, but Hermione didn't join in. 'Oh great,' she thought, 'well at least he feels better.'

Throughout the rest of the train ride, they boys managed to relax, but Hermione found it difficult to loosen up, there was something about what Malfoy had said that bothered her. Maybe it was just how accurately he had perceived the incident in the Leaky Cauldron. Or maybe it was just the fact that she knew this was not the last she would be hearing from Malfoy on the subject this year. She had a feeling he was going to taunt, tease, and torture her as much as possible every chance he got.

- - - - - - - - - -

Hermione only managed to put Malfoy and the train ride to the back of her mind after the sorting ceremony was finished and the opening feast was underway. Being the responsible prefect that she was, she introduced herself to all the new Gryffindors and encouraged them to come to her for help or advice should they need anything. She tried to convince Ron to do the same; however there was no talking to him when there was food in front of him, so she spoke to them alone.

The first years seemed shocked to be addressed by a sixth year, but they all seemed relieved to know who they could go to if they had any questions or problems. Almost immediately Hermione was bombarded with questions about everything from classes, to the other houses, to professors etc. Hermione was thrilled to see such interest amongst the new students. One of the first year boys asked, "so what's the difference between the houses anyway?"

"Well," answered Hermione, addressing both him and all the other attentive first years. "Like the sorting hat said, Gryffindor is the house of bravery, Ravenclaw is the house of intelligence, Hufflepuff is the house of loyalty and hard-workers, and Slytherin is the house of cunning and ambition. They are basically defined by your most prevalent qualities. So just because you're only in one house does not mean that you do not have qualities that would fit in the other houses, it just means that they're not as strong.

"Oh," said the boy nodding, but still looking a bit confused.

"But," said Hermione speaking as if she were telling a secret, "just between us, Gryffindor is definitely the best house."

The first years laughed and nodded in agreement. One of the girls piped up with another question, "So does that mean that we can't have friends in the other houses?"

"Oh no of course not, it's great to have friends in the other houses, for the most part everyone gets along together just fine no matter what house they're in." answered Hermione.

"Yeah, except the Slytherins, steer clear of them," warned Ron, finally pausing his dinner to join in the conversation.

The first years all looked at him with wide-eyed worry; Hermione on the other hand gave him a reprimanding look, "Ron! That's not helping to promote inter-house cooperation and unity!"

"Come on Hermione, the Slytherins don't try to get along with us, why should we try to get along with them?" argued Ron. The first years were watching the little dispute with rapt attention.

"We should try because we are above such nonsense! You never know, if the first years start getting along, then perhaps in the future all the houses will get along and not just three of them."

"Fat chance!" countered Ron.

Hermione grit her teeth and looked like she was desperately trying to restrain herself from snapping at Ron. In the end she managed to bite back her words and instead she turned to the first years, "just ignore him and don't discriminate against the other students no matter what house they're in." The first years nodded, however Hermione had a sneaking suspicion that they were probably going to listen to Ron rather than her. 'Whatever' she thought as she finished her meal in silence.

When the feast was finally over Dumbledore stood up, and the entire Great Hall went silent. "Greetings! Greetings to all both old and new. I am sure you are all looking forward to the upcoming year, however first I must make a few start of term notices. First, the list of forbidden objects is posted outside Mr. Filch's office; all would do well to review the list. Secondly, the forest is out of bounds to all students," Professor Dumbledore's eyes roamed over the entire student body and briefly rested on the Harry and Ron who grinned at each other, somehow they always found themselves entering the forest at some point each year. "Finally, all students are reminded not to go wandering the corridors at night. Prefects, please direct the first year students to the dormitories, good night." Dumbledore smiled at the room, as the students all got up to leave.

"Alright everyone, please follow me, and I will lead you to the Gryffindor common room. Please pay attention so you know how to get there." Hermione, Ron, and Harry were leading the first years out of the Great Hall, but when they reached the door, they were forced to stop because another group of students arrived at the same time. Of course, those students were none other than the Slytherin first years led by Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson.

"Do you mind, we were walking here first," spat Draco with a sneer, behind him the Slytherin first years were whispering and chuckling, and a few were already sending dirty looks over to the Gryffindors. Draco turned and loudly addressed them, "You'll have to get used to this pathetic incompetence from the rest of the school, _particularly_ from the Gryffindors," Draco gestured to Hermione and the others. The first year Gryffindors look scandalized while the first year Slytherins looked smug. Draco then pushed past Hermione with his famous smirk, a look that the new Slytherins were already attempting to mimic.

Hermione grit her teeth and glared at the backs of the Slytherins, who were now heading down to the dungeons. "Remember all that stuff I said about inter-house unity?" The first years nodded at her, "well when it comes to Slytherins, forget it!" Harry and Ron both laughed, and Ron took Hermione's hand in his and gave it a comforting squeeze. She smiled at him, and together they led the way up to the Gryffindor common room.

- - - - - - - - - -

Once he led them down to the dungeons, Draco said the password to the Slytherin common room very clearly to make sure that everyone heard it, "Now, I expect all of you to remember it, and not to give the password to anyone who is not in Slytherin house." The gang of Slytherins tromped inside, and Draco turned towards them. "The boys' dormitory is down the stairs on the left, and the girls are on the right. If you have any questions, I advise you to think twice before asking me. Got it!"

The first years all gazed at him with wide-eyed awe, a few gulped, all nodded. Many of the girls already seemed to getting all dreamy eyed from looking at him, while the boys already seemed to be emulating him.

Draco looked at them appraisingly, apparently deemed himself satisfied, nodded curtly, "having said that, if you ever find that the students from another house are giving you trouble, let me know immediately and I will make sure they are punished." Draco paused, his cold steel eyes scanning the new batch of Slytherins one last time, "you're dismissed."

The first years scattered as quickly as possible. Draco had obviously succeeded in making the dominating impression he had been going for. Not that he had to try hard; it came naturally to a Malfoy.

Draco then sauntered over to the couch by the fire. The pair of third years who had been on the verge of sitting down, quickly decided against the idea and backed away when they saw Draco approaching. All heads, even those of the seventh years, seemed to turn and follow him wherever he went. Draco of course thrived on the attention, and he never grew tired of having people fawn all over him, as his housemates often did. He lounged himself in the black leather couch wearing a smug expression, and turned his attention to the crackling flames of the fire.

Though he did not look around, he was acutely aware of the actions going on around him. Apparently a gang of fourth year girls had already gotten together to goggle and stare at him when they thought he wouldn't notice. They were whispering to each other behind their hands and throwing him frequent glances. Draco decided to have a bit of fun with them. He put on a flirtatious smirk, and in one swift motion, directed his piercing eyes towards them. Instantly they all blushed and tried to find anything else to look at. Draco chuckled to himself as he turned his attention back to the fire.

Draco wasn't the only one who noticed the attention he got from the girls in the house. Pansy had also noted how the small group of fourth years had been giggling and gossiping about him. But unlike Draco, Pansy was not the least bit amused. She glared at them all before sauntering over to the couch and sitting beside him. Draco shifted to rest his arm around her shoulders, allowing her to lean up against him. Pansy turned to throw a haughty glance at the fourth year girls, all of whom were looking exceedingly jealous. She then turned her attention to Draco. "So what do you think of the new group of Slytherins?"

Draco shrugged, "nothing special, we'll see how they turn out as the year goes on."

"I didn't see much of you much over the summer, what were you doing?" said Pansy in what she hoped was an off-hand way. She knew that she and Draco were not dating, but it was no secret to him or anyone else that she fancied him. And the thought of him being with other girls did send waves of jealousy through her. She knew that Slytherins should never feel jealous, but she couldn't help it. She wanted Draco, and she wanted him bad. Draco did humor her occasionally when he was in the mood, but never as often as she would like.

Draco smirked, Pansy may try to be nonchalant but he knew that she probably had visions of him going out with all sorts of girls over the summer. He reveled with the knowledge that she, like so many of the girls in Hogwarts wanted him so badly. Sure, Pansy was good for an occasional light snogging session, a little kissing when he was bored, but never anything more serious than that. "I told you," he drawled lazily, "I had family business to deal with."

"Oh, right, sorry I forgot. So how is your mother doing?"

"Same as usual, she never lets on to what she's up to." Answered Draco shortly, this was not a topic of conversation he was keen on pursuing.

"Did you get to see your father at all?" asked Pansy with a concerned glance.

"Ha! Yeah that's how I want to spend my summer, visiting an overbearing father in a ghastly prison just so I can listen to him rant about whatever shit he wants to rant about, and so I can listen to him tell me that _I'm_ an insult to the Malfoy name. All of this from a man who allowed pathetic Potter to land himself in prison like an idiot." Draco ended his mini-rant with a sneer. He hadn't meant to go off like that, and now that he had, he was stone cold and silent.

Pansy had gone rather rigid; she didn't like to make Draco angry. As powerful of a witch as she was, she had no match for Draco when he was angry. She hadn't been thinking when she had asked the question, and now that she had, she regretted it. She risked a cautious glance at Draco, and found him scowling into the fire. She used her quick thinking skills, before making her next move. She smiled mischievously at him and cuddled closer, "so" she whispered, "how are we going to make Potter pay for the crimes he's committed against your family?"

This seemed to draw Draco's thoughts back into reality, "I've got a plan. And when I'm through he and all the other pathetic muggle-lovers will regret the day they crossed the Malfoy family."

"Which is exactly what they deserve!" cried Pansy with indignation. "You know that if you need any help plotting, or with anything, you can always rely on me. I'd love nothing more than to help you get Potter back!"

Draco huffed knowingly; he could think of several things that Pansy would rather do involving him than to plot Potter's demise. All of them involved something more than kissing, but he didn't mention those things. He didn't want to give her the false impression that he was interested in them as well. Instead, he just sat, watching the fire dance atop the logs in the fireplace, he allowed Pansy to cuddle up close to him. She had her arms wrapped tightly around him, but other than the fact that he had his arm draped across her shoulders, he took no notice of her. Nor did he give any attention to the other Slytherins milling about the common room, many catching up with their friends, some playing games, and a few turning in early so that they were prepared for their first day of classes.

Draco's mind reeled over many thoughts as he sat there staring into the fire. Most of them focused around Lucius, and the task he was to complete, but he also thought a lot about the panther statue. The more he read, the more intrigued he was by the creature's power, he thought about taking it out to examine it again, but he did not want Pansy to see it. There were some things which Draco enjoyed keeping secret for only himself, and though he couldn't explain why, the panther was one of them. It seemed like it was somehow important, like it held a deeper meaning to him, as if it was connected to him somehow. Draco thought about how the eyes had seemed to glow when he bought it, 'maybe it is connected to me' he thought silently with a slight, barely noticeable, smile.

Draco remained motionlessly lounging on the couch long after even Pansy went to bed. She had tried several times to occupy his attention, but clearly his mind was elsewhere. Not that she could blame him, he certainly had a lot to think about. She had left without a word, which was how Draco liked it. Once the room was empty, and his only company was the crackling flames in the fireplace, he pulled the panther from his pocket and placed it carefully on the table in front of him. The statue stretched and yawned. It paced across the table, examining its new surroundings. Draco watched with amusement as the silver feline critiqued its new surroundings with an arrogant gaze from its jeweled eyes. Once it had briefly toured the entire common room, it returned to Draco, and in one leap, jumped smoothly from the ground to his knee. It looked up at him expectantly, Draco took this as an indication that the statue was ready to go, and since he did need to get some sleep before his first day of classes, he certainly didn't object to heading up to the dormitory. He returned the panther to his pocket and swept down the spiraled stone staircase to the sixth year boys' dormitory.

- - - - - - - - - -

Hermione, Ron and Harry led the Gryffindor first years to the portrait of the Fat Lady. Hermione was furious with Malfoy for being such a git in front of the new students. She truly had wanted to promote inter-house unity, even with the Slytherins. But Malfoy made it so difficult that it was hardly worth the effort. 'Bloody Malfoy,' she thought angrily. She rolled her eyes once the portrait door came into view, determined not to let Malfoy ruin the first day back at Hogwarts for her, or for the new group of Gryffindors.

Once Ron had given the Fat Lady the password and everyone was inside, Hermione turned to address the new students. She smiled at the looks of awe on their young faces, 'is that how I looked when I first walked in here?' she wondered to herself. The first years looked up to her expectantly, waiting for her to say something. She cleared her throat and spoke loud enough for them all to hear her, "this is the Gryffindor Common Room. This is where you will spend most of your time while you are not in classes, your dormitories are up those two sets of stairs, boys are on the left, and girls are on the right. Remember if you have any questions; feel free to ask me, or anyone else in Gryffindor, we're all family here. I think that's everything, so for now just enjoy the rest of the night getting to know your new housemates."

The first years all looked around at each other, eventually breaking off into small groups. Hermione meanwhile joined Ron, Harry, and Ginny in their favorite seats by the common room fire. "It feels good to be back doesn't it?" she asked them all.

Ron and Ginny nodded but Harry just looked away with a haunted pained look in his eyes. Hermione bit her lip; clearly being back at school didn't bring the same joy to him that it brought to the rest of them. Hermione knew that he was still beating himself up over Sirius' death, but she could think of nothing that would make him feel better. There were really no words, she could not understand how he felt because she had never experienced it, but still she did her best. She Ron and Ginny exchanged worried glances, and then attempted to comfort their friend.

Harry really was appreciative of their concern and of how they wanted to help him, but unless they could bring Sirius back, nothing they could do would ever erase the guilt he felt, or the sadness which consumed him. The summer had helped him to get passed the worst of his feelings, though now that he was back at school and could not escape the wizarding world and its problems even if he tried, it was harder to ignore the feelings. He had been truly hurt on the train when he found out from Malfoy that Hermione and Ron were dating. While he could understand why they had tried to keep it a secret, he didn't like the fact that they had. He needed them, he needed them both now more than ever, and he couldn't take the idea that they would keep secrets from him. He hoped that their new relationship would not make things weird between the three of them; because that was one problem he simply did not have the time or the energy to deal with. He sighed, the orange flames reflecting in his glasses, he didn't want to think about all the things that could possibly happen in the upcoming year, all he wanted right now was to go to sleep. "Guys, I'm gonna go up to bed, I'll see you all in the morning."

"Alright mate," said Ron.

"Harry are you sure you're alright?" asked Hermione concernedly.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Thanks," assured Harry, hoping he sounded more convincing than he felt. "G'night."

"Good night," Hermione, Ron and Ginny called together.

Hermione watched the spot where Harry had gone a while after he left. She didn't notice that behind her Ron was sending Ginny looks that clearly said 'get lost'. Ginny pretended not to understand what he wanted at first, but by the time Hermione turned back around, she had left with a smile making her way over to the other fifth years who were playing a game of exploding snap. The deck had started to smoke slightly and was about ready to explode any minute.

Hermione turned around to find Ron gazing at her. The rapt attention made her the butterflies in her stomach go haywire; she smiled shyly and giggled a little when he put his arm around her shoulder. Hermione looked at him, then at the fire, then back at him, suddenly realized that she had no idea what to do. Why were things so different now? This was Ron; she had no reason to be any different around him now than she was before. Yeah, she could still be the same Hermione she always had been, the only difference was now Ron was her boyfriend instead of just one of her best friends. Thinking about things that way definitely helped her to relax. As long as she didn't focus on the relationship part, she felt just the same as she always had.

"I can't wait for classes to start again tomorrow can you?" she asked with excitement.

Ron chuckled, "you're the only person I know who gets excited about classes," Hermione blushed and turned her head away, "but that's one of the many things I like about you."

Hermione turned to him, "Oh, so _that's_ why you've been calling me a know-it-all all these years, and here I thought that annoyed you!"

Ron laughed, "Aww come on Hermione I love everything about you!"

Hermione laughed and pushed him away lightly, "right, you just like the fact that I help you with your homework."

"No really," insisted Ron. "Just cause I don't like classes doesn't mean that I can't like you for liking them."

"I guess that makes sense," agreed Hermione, "In some strange red headed universe." She shifted closer to Ron on the couch, causing him to smile that adorable smile that she loved to see. He held her tighter and they stayed together on the couch for quite a while. This time, the kisses didn't seem nearly as awkward; rather Hermione found she enjoyed it very much. Ron clearly would have liked to stay down in the common room with her all night, however after a while he conceded to Hermione's demands that she get a proper night's sleep, and they both went to their respective dormitories.

As she curled up in her warm soft crimson sheets, nothing but happy thoughts filled her head. She was at Hogwarts, her second home, she had an adorable boyfriend; yup life was going to be good this year. It seemed to Hermione that nothing could get in the way of her happiness this year, nothing.

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I hope you all liked this chapter, I'm going on vacation tomorrow, but I wanted to make sure you all had something to read while I was away. And for those of you who are reading the 3rd Serpent Fang fic, the second chapter will hopefully be up in like a week. Anyway, please review and let me know what you thought of this chapter! 


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: ** Harry Potter and everything you recognize belongs to J.K. Rowling, the plot however is all mine.

**A/N: **What a nightmare, I had no internet when I went on vacation! Yet somehow I survived, and now I am able to post chapter three. Thank you to everyone who reviewed chapter 2!

_totally-spaz_ – That's ok that you can't see where it's going yet, cause it's still in the introduction stage. This chapter might help sort it out a little bit, but the main plot hasn't really begun yet. Anyway, thanks for the review, and I hope you like chapter 3!  
_Chantal J and Sam, anIme-prYncess, Sunflower18, Sayaku-chan _– thanks for the reviews! Hope you all like this chapter!  
_Steelo_ – thanks for the review! I hope the update didn't take too long!  
_FallenThrough_ – lol yup, famous last words. I'm glad you liked it, and thanks for the review!  
_Londonmalfoy_ – thank you! I'm always happy to hear that the characters seem in character. And thanks for the clarification about the nundu, who knows, since nundus are giant leopards, maybe some of them are panthers . . .

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**Chapter 3: Sixth Year Begins**

The morning of the first day of classes, Draco awoke in a relatively good mood. It wasn't that he was looking forward to class; it was just that he was looking forward to having something to do all day other than order around the house elves and wander through the Manor. Draco was rather good in school, in fact of it wasn't for the pathetic mudblood, he would be the best. He hated her for beating him in school just as much as he hated her for being one of Potty's sidekicks and for being a filthy mudblood.

Draco showered and dressed before any of his dorm mates had even awoken. He looked down upon them as they continued sleeping. Naturally, since he was born to be the center of the universe, Draco's bed was in the center of the room. To his left were Crabbe and Goyle, and to his right were Zabini and Nott, all of whom seemed to exist to do his bidding. Although Crabbe and Goyle were the ones who always followed Draco everywhere, Zabini and Nott always obeyed any orders Draco gave to them as well. They were certainly more intelligent than either Crabbe or Goyle, but then again, that wasn't saying much.

Draco sneered at the lazy bums before him, and decided to give them a wakeup call. He picked up his bag, walked out of the room, and slammed the door behind him so hard that it seemed to rattle the thick stone walls. Much to his pleasure, he heard four loud grunts followed closely by a series of thuds as his dorm mates fell out of their beds and hit the floor. Draco chuckled to himself with satisfaction as he walked up the stairs to the common room.

"I thought that might have been you," said Pansy as soon as Draco stepped into the common room.

Draco smirked, "well the lazy arses needed something to wake them up."

"I'm sure they did," smiled Pansy.

"Well, since we're both up, care to go to breakfast?" suggested Draco, knowing full well that Pansy would jump into a pit full of blast-ended skrewts without her wand if he asked her to, so there was no question that she would leap at the chance to join him alone for breakfast as well. It was amazing to him how excited she got about doing things with him considering the fact that they had all the same classes together already.

The two Slytherins walked up the stairs leading to the Entrance Hall alone, 'perhaps it's earlier than I thought,' mused Draco, smirking even more at the thought of how his housemates must be taking their early wakeup call.

Draco and Pansy were among the first students in the Great Hall that morning, which was how Draco liked it. While he greatly enjoyed being the center of attention, he also valued his alone time, especially at school when one was never truly alone. It was difficult to have any privacy at school when he felt as though he was always being watched. It was something about the way Dumbledore looked at him, as if he was seeing through him, like Draco could keep nothing from the crazy old man. It was a feeling Draco despised, and one which he was determined to rectify by the end of the year. A devilish smirk spread over his lips as he thought of his task and the devastation he would cause upon completion of it.

Draco and Pansy had already gotten a good head start on their breakfasts before the rest of the student body began arriving. It wasn't long before Draco's cronies and Pansy's gang of Slytherin girls joined them at the table.

Halfway through breakfast, Professor Snape and the other Heads of Houses passed out the class schedules to each of the students. Draco took one glance at his schedule and scowled in disgust, 'why the hell do I always have to have so many classes with the blasted Gryffindors?' He glanced down the list, arithmancy was with the Ravenclaws, Herbology was with the Hufflepuffs, but Care of Magical Creatures, Potions, History of Magic and Transfiguration were all with Gryffindor. "Shit," muttered Draco.

Pansy, who had been too busy gazing at Draco to even glance at her schedule, looked down to see what the problem was, and she too scowled, "it's like those stupid Gryffindors live just to make our lives more difficult."

- - - - - - - - - -

Hermione tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for Harry and Ron to get their butts down to the common room. "Would you two hurry up? We're going to be late for breakfast!"

"Calm down, calm down, we're coming," answered Ron as the two boys tromped down the stairs.

Hermione was practically bouncing up and down in her seat when Professor McGonagall came by with the class schedule. But Hermione's excitement about starting school was dampened considerably when she saw how many classes they had with the Slytherins this year. "We have four classes with them! I can't believe it!"

Harry and Ron sulked in agreement (even though since they did not take Arithmancy, they only shared three classes with Slytherin), but continued eating without a word. Hermione particularly hated having potions with the Slytherins because Snape treated the Gryffindors even worse around the students from his own house. Plus, she found it absolutely disgusting how much he so obviously favored the Slytherins over everyone else. She also hated having care of magical creatures with the Slytherins because they, Malfoy especially, were so cruel to Hagrid; she hated seeing his spirits dampened by their rude comments, not to mention their unending attempts to get him sacked.

She could tell that Mondays were going to be a nightmare because they had every class with the Slytherins. She sighed when the bell rang because today was Monday and not only did they have to be with the Slytherins, but their first class was History of Magic, she always did her best to stay alert and take decent notes in that class, but Professor Binns made it extremely difficult. She hated having History of Magic first because it made her sleepy for the rest of the day, and if she had learned anything in five years at Hogwarts, it was that one always had to be on their toes and alert when one was around the Slytherins, especially when that one was a muggle-born Gryffindor, and one of Harry Potters best friends.

The three Gryffindors shuffled to the History of Magic classroom, the boredom seemed to settle in even before Professor Binns arrived. It was quite upsetting really. Hermione, Ron, and Harry settled themselves in the back of the room. Hermione took out her parchment notebook, a quill and bottle of ink. Ron put his arm around Hermione, but did not take out any note-taking supplies. Harry took out his parchment notebook and a quill, but did not appear to intend to use them since he had forgotten to take out his ink.

Just before the bell rang, the Slytherins arrived. Malfoy and his two cronies Crabbe and Goyle went straight to the table in the back corner on the other side of the room, completely disregarding the fact that Neville, Dean, and Seamus were already seated there. "What the hell do you three think you're doing?" Malfoy drawled with a sneer.

Neville jumped and immediately started getting up to move, but Seamus was more stubborn. "We could ask you the same question _Malfoy_."

"This is where we sit, in case you are too stupid to notice, this is the Slytherin side of the room, so get off your arses and move!"

Neville jumped, but Dean held him back. The Slytherins were all sniggering; the Gryffindors meanwhile were glaring indignantly at Malfoy's gall. "You can't do anything to us," argued Dean. Both he and Seamus had remained in their seats.

"Keep talking to me like that and I'll take points from Gryffindor for disobeying orders and talking back to a prefect," drawled Draco threateningly.

Seamus looked like he would have loved to shout something obscene at Malfoy, but no one in the room had any doubt that Malfoy would love to take as many points from Gryffindor as possible their first day back. So, exercising all of their restraint, Seamus and Dean silently grabbed their stuff and pushed past the three Slytherins, with Neville following close behind.

The Slytherins were laughing and making catcalls at the as they passed, and the Gryffindors were all fuming. Poor Neville was so flustered that he tripped in the middle of the room, which only caused the Slytherins to laugh harder.

In the back of the room, Draco settled himself in the middle seat with Crabbe and Goyle on either side. He pushed his chair out a bit, and tipped it back so that he was balancing on the two back legs, with his legs crossed, and his shoes on the edge of the desk. He had his arms behind his head, which was facing the ceiling, and he looked ready for a nice long nap.

Hermione scoffed at Malfoy's audacity, he was such a complete jerk. Clearly, the summer vacation had only served to make him even more malicious than ever. But Hermione did not have time to focus on Malfoy's horrendous behavior, because Professor Binns had finally glided through the chalkboard as he always did, and she needed to pay attention.

- - - - - - - - - -

Remarkably, after that one incident in the beginning of the day, not much happened between Slytherin and Gryffindor, at least not until the last class of the day, Care of Magical Creatures. Harry, Ron and Hermione arrived ahead of everyone else so as to talk to Hagrid before class began.

"'ello there Harry, Ron, Hermione,' smiled Hagrid when he was the trio walking down towards his hut. "How's yer first day back?"

"All right," answered Harry as Hermione and Ron nodded in agreement.

"What sort of creature are we going to be studying today Hagrid?"

"Well, I figgered since it's yer first day back and all, I'd give you lot a bit of a treat," answered Hagrid with a wink.

The three friends looked at each other warily, a treat in Hagrid's mind often proved to be anything but. It often was something highly dangerous, and not always legal. But before they could press Hagrid about it further, the rest of the class, including the Slytherins (who all looked as if they would rather be elsewhere) approached the hut, and Hagrid began addressing the class.

" 'ello everyone! I've got a wonderful lesson planned fer today, so if you'll all just gather 'round I'll show you what we'll be studyin' today."

The class gathered around somewhat apprehensively, the Slytherins made sure to stick to the outside, they didn't trust anything Hagrid said or did, and they wanted to be sure that if whatever creature Hagrid had brought decided to attack, it would only be able to get the Gryffindors.

Hagrid reached into a wooden box and pulled out a tiny round bird with gold feathers. Most of the class ooed and ahhed (particularly the girls, and many, including most of the Slytherins pushed in closer to get a better view of the tiny golden bird. There were only two people in the class who did not share this reaction, Hermione was biting her lip and looking worried. Draco meanwhile was eying the wooden box, which no doubt was holding a bunch of the small birds captive, with a devious glint in his eye. Though the two had reacted very differently, the same initial thought had run though their head the moment they saw the golden bird.

"Now," said Hagrid with a smile on his face because of the class' reaction, "can anyone tell me what this is?"

Surprisingly, several people (most noticeably the quidditch players) raised their hands; Hermione for once was one who did not. The people around her instantly took notice of this, as did Hagrid, who called on Ron to answer.

"It's a snidget," Ron answered proudly.

"Correct, five points to Gryffindor, now can anyone tell me what the snidget was originally used for?"

Again, a large number of hands went up, "yes, Parvati?"

"Snidgets were what seekers originally chased after in quidditch games."

"Well done, another five points to Gryffindor."

Draco sneered; he hated it when Gryffindors earned points.

Finally, Hermione raised her hand, "But Hagrid," she began, "snidgets are endangered, how did you get them?" she hadn't wanted to ask the question, but if he had gotten them through anything but legal means then she had to know so she could convince him to get rid of them as soon as possible.

Draco smirked; he knew exactly why Granger was looking so worried. Odds are, the brainless oaf had gotten these snitches illegally, and she didn't want her half-giant friend getting in trouble again. Now he really wanted to open the box containing the other snidgets. He knew very well that it was illegal to even attempt to capture a snidget, so once they were free, the stupid half-giant would have to let them go and suffer the consequences, or risk having the Slytherins tell someone about him catching dozens of the stupid birds. He'd get a hefty fine either way, almost certainly be sacked from his teaching job, and perhaps even a small Azkaban sentence. Plus, to add to the enjoyment, the Gryffindors would be furious.

Hagrid was busy muttering a response to Hermione's question, (although he seemed to be avoiding providing an actual answer), so he did not notice Draco sneak around the students to the box. Draco could hear the small snidgets twittering away. He knelt down and slipped his wand out of his pocket; he aimed it at the lock and whispered "alohomora." The lock clicked open, and Draco turned to be sure that no one was watching, Hagrid was back to talking about the snidgets, although he was now stuttering and noticeably more nervous, but luckily, the class all had their eyes on him (or more likely, the snidget.)

"Now, I have a bunch of these snidgets in a box, so I want you all ter get together in groups of four, and I'll give one snidget to each group."

Draco immediately seized the opportunity before it was too late; he opened the door, and in a flash rejoined the group acting as if he'd been paying attention the entire time.

"Hagrid!" shouted Hermione as she saw was looked remarkably like little golden snitches flying away.

Draco made his way to the other side of the group sniggering at his own handiwork. Hagrid went wide-eyed in panic. The snidgets were flying around; "Round them up everyone!" he shouted waving his massive hands around. Draco however, directed the Slytherins away from the chaos.

Hagrid glared at the Slytherins and roared, "I said ter round them up!"

"But _professor_," Draco drawled calmly in response, something about his tone caused everyone, even the Gryffindors to listen. Hermione, who had also refrained from attempting to catch the snidgets, noticed that as he spoke, he placed his wand back inside his pocket. "As Granger, so kindly pointed out," he gestured towards Hermione, "snidgets are endangered, in fact, unless I'm much mistaken" his eyes glinted with malice, "they are classified as a quadruple X magical creature because of the severe penalty for harming and or _capturing_ one. Isn't that correct?" Draco made sure to stress the fact that capturing a snidget was against the law just as much as harming one was.

Hagrid stared back at him dumbfounded, and the Gryffindors looked very concerned. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were glaring furiously at Malfoy.

"Isn't that correct, _Professor_?" Draco stressed the word professor and reveled in the reactions he was getting for his little stunt. The Slytherins were all sniggering and standing around him, and the Gryffindors looked absolutely dumbstruck, and at a loss for what to do next. Draco was pretending to actually be looking for an answer, so just to show Hagrid up, he turned to the trio. "Well, if our professor doesn't know the answer, then perhaps know-it-all Granger does," the Slytherin sniggers grew louder, "aren't I correct Granger?"

Hermione glared at Malfoy with lips so pursed that she looked startlingly like Professor McGonagall.

"Well?" Draco pressed with raised eyebrows.

Seeing no other option, Hermione looked away from him, but nodded nevertheless.

Draco's sneer grew even wider, and his tone was dripping with mock sincerity, "well _Professor_, it sounds to me as if you are engaging in illegal practices, and not only that, but you were clearly attempting to persuade your class to participate as well. I for one am ashamed and utterly shocked." The Slytherins nodded in agreement while trying to stifle their laughter. "As the responsible prefect that I am," Ron snorted at that comment, "I feel it is my duty to inform my Head of House of your irresponsible behavior. In fact, I think I'll go do that right now." And with that, Draco turned and stalked away with the all the Slytherins following him, none of them even attempting to bite back their laughter any longer.

Since he had successfully ruined Hagrid's first class of the year, Draco did as he'd threatened and went straight to Professor Snape. Although, once he'd gone into the dungeons, the rest of his housemates had turned towards the Slytherin common room, rather than follow him to Professor Snape's office.

"Professor?" Draco announced himself as he opened the door to Snape's office.

"Yes Mr. Malfoy?" answered the Potions Master in a cool whisper.

"Sir, I just thought I should inform you, the brainless oaf that Dumbledore's got teaching Care of Magical Creatures, just lost a crate full of snidgets. He tried to get everyone to capture them for him, but I promptly took the Slytherins away since we all know that's illegal." Draco finished with a smug look on his face.

Snape smirked with what could have been pride, "Thank you for telling me Draco, I will be sure to let the Headmaster know immediately."

Draco nodded and went on his way. He was still wearing a smug smirk as he entered the common room. Pansy was waiting for him, and just about charged the moment he entered, "Draco that was marvelous! Did you see the look on the Gryffindors faces?"

Draco chuckled, "nice way to start off the school year, don't you agree?"

"Absolutely, I don't know how Hagrid will be able to talk his way out of this one."

"That's the idea Pansy," Draco smiled with a devilish smirk.

Pansy clung to Draco's arm as he walked over to his favorite black leather couch. He dropped his bag at his side as Pansy settled herself next to him, clearly seeking his attention. But Draco was not in the mood for that at the moment, so instead he pulled out his assignments for the night and set to work.

"Aww Draco, you don't need to work now do you?"

"Well Parkinson, the homework doesn't do itself and since I intend to pass my classes, yes I need to do the work now." Draco narrowed his eyes at her.

Pansy huffed, "well fine then." She left Draco on the couch and went over to talk with the other Slytherin girls instead.

- - - - - - - - - -

Several Gryffindors, who seemed to have seen a point in what Malfoy had said, cautiously made their way to the castle after the Slytherins, although rather than laugh, they had given Hagrid sympathetic looks before walking away.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were the only ones who stayed behind. Hagrid placed the one snidget that he had been holding back into the box and relocked the lock. "Hagrid?" said Harry.

"I just thought it'd be a fun lesson," Hagrid sighed.

"It was fun," Harry insisted, Ron nodded eagerly at his side. Hermione however stayed behind them a bit.

Hagrid shook his head, "I'm in trouble now, I didn't think it'd be a problem ter bring 'em here, I shoulda locked the box back up."

"Hagrid don't blame yourself for them escaping!" cried Hermione finally, coming forward with the boys. "It was Malfoy who let the snidgets go! He must have unlocked the crate while you were talking to us because I saw him putting his wand back in his robes."

Hagrid shook his head again, "It don't matter, I'm the only one who had any responsibility fer them, I'm the one who will get in trouble. You were right Hermione, I shouldn't a 'ad 'em in the first place."

"Hagrid I'm so sorry," Hermione pleaded, she for some reason felt extremely guilty.

"Well if it was bloody Malfoy's fault then why did you have to agree with him when he was saying all that stuff?" shouted Ron, rounding on Hermione.

Hermione frowned at Ron, her guilt quickly turning into anger, "because it was the truth! What would you have done? Lie?"

Both the boys nodded as if this was obvious, "yeah!" shouted Ron, "I would have lied to protect Hagrid before telling the truth to prove Malfoy was right!"

Hermione scoffed and put her hands on her hips, "well, I'm sorry, but I can't do that!" With that she turned and began running back to the school.

"We'll stick by you Hagrid," Ron said loudly so that Hermione could hear him even though she was leaving.

"Now, now, don't you two go turnin' on Hermione 'cause of me. She's just doin' what's right," Hagrid said calmly.

"But you're our friend, and what's right is to defend your friends," argued Harry.

"I'm not arguin' with ya, I'm just sayin' don't be mad at her." Hagrid paused and looked up at the now snidgetless sky, "well, I better be gettin' ter Dumbledore and let 'im know 'bout the snidgets." Hagrid led Harry and Ron back to the castle.

Hermione had practically run all the way back to the Gryffindor common room, so by the time she entered she was out of breath, and still extremely angry. She stormed across the room and marched herself up to the dormitory where she threw herself on the bed. It had only been the first day and already she felt as if she'd been back at school for at least a month. She remained in the dormitory, staring up at the ceiling until she had calmed down.

After that, she glanced at her watch and found that there was still plenty of time before dinner to go get some of her homework done, so she grabbed her bag and made her way back down through the common room and through the halls to the library.

- - - - - - - - - -

The rest of the week didn't go much better for Hermione; Dumbledore had been forced to put Hagrid on probation from teaching once the Ministry got wind of the illegal snidgets he had been keeping. Hagrid was still performing his game-keeping duties, but Professor Grubbly-Plank had taken over teaching Care of Magical Creatures lessons. To make tensions between Hermione, Harry and Ron even worse, the students, Gryffindors included, seemed to support this decision, and Malfoy was forever gloating about it. Since she didn't want to be around her friends while they were mad at her, Hermione spent nearly the entire weekend, save mealtimes, holed up in the library getting overly ahead of her work.

Not seeing Hermione for the entire weekend seemed to snap both Harry and Ron (Ron especially) out of their anger phases, so Monday morning they both cornered her in the common room where she was reading before breakfast. "Hey Hermione," greeted Ron in a friendly whisper and a light kiss to her forehead.

Hermione pretended as if she hadn't heard and kept her face directed towards the book, although both of the boys noticed that her eyes had stopped moving across the page.

"Hermione we're both really sorry for overreacting the way we did, it was really stupid of us," continued Ron.

Hermione huffed in response as if to say 'damn right it was stupid.'

"So, can you accept our apology, we didn't mean to start the year off so bad and we really miss hanging out with you," Harry added.

Hermione was unable to continue pretending to ignore them, so she finally placed the book on the table, and looked at them with hopeful eyes, "You're _really_ sorry?"

"Yeah!" they assured her.

Hermione smiled at the pair of them and gave them each a hug (though she also gave Ron a kiss on the cheek.) "Oh, I just hate it when you two are mad at me!" she cried. "And I'm sorry for not defending Hagrid; Malfoy just caught me off guard so I didn't know what to do."

"We understand," said Ron as he wrapped his arm around her waist.

This week, History of Magic passed without incident, but the same could not be said for the second class of the day, Transfiguration. The class began normal as usual Professor McGonagall was lecturing them about human transfiguration, which they were going to be actually practicing later in the year.

"Now class," Professor McGonagall said ten minutes before the class was to end. "I am going to divide you into pairs. Inside of class we will continue taking notes and practicing transfiguration. However as homework, you and your partner will study up on human transfiguration. It is wise to study together because eventually, you will be practicing on one another, so you need to trust you partner to perform the spell on you correctly." The students looked at one another warily. "As I already told you, human transfiguration can go terribly wrong if you're not careful, so I expect you all to work your hardest at it." Professor McGonagall stopped to retrieve something from behind her desk; the class meanwhile was looking rather nervous and mumbling to each other.

The mumbling ceased once Professor McGonagall stood and placed the Sorting Hat on her desk. "I would like you all to write your names on a spare bit of parchment. In order to avoid mindless complaints about the pairing of students, I have decided to use the Sorting Hat as an impartial selector. It will pair you off, and once you have been partnered, that is the final word on the subject, no exceptions."

The students looked even more anxious at this. They all knew that there was no negotiating with Professor McGonagall, so if they were paired with a member from the opposite house, they were on their own. After a moment, everyone had written their name on a scrap of parchment, and passed it forward. Professor McGonagall put all the names into the sorting hat and places it right side up on her desk.

The hat shifted back and forth as if thinking, but it was a good minute before it opened the tear that apparently was a mouth and shouted the first two names. "Parvati Patil and Seamus Finnegan."

There was a collective sigh of relief amongst the class, maybe the hat was pairing them with students in their own house after all, in which case the project would be no big deal.

The Sorting Hat spoke again, "Blaise Zabini, and Neville Longbottom."

The tension in the room went up even faster than it had released, maybe the rest of the students weren't as safe as they thought.

"Pansy Parkinson, and Millicent Bullstrode," announced the hat.

The rest of the class waited with anticipation. Some students were happy with their partners, others were rather upset, and they were throwing the students who got paired within their own house jealous looks. Harry had been paired with Theodore Nott, but Ron and Hermione had yet to be paired, of course, they were hoping to be paired with each other, but neither dared to get their hopes up too high.

The sorting hat spoke again, "Draco Malfoy," the remaining Gryffindors held their breath, each desperately hoping not to be paired with the most insufferable Slytherin, no make that the most insufferable _student_ in the school, "and Hermione Granger."

Both Harry and Ron instantly shouted in protest, but Hermione just dropped her head on the desk with exasperation. Meanwhile Pansy had gasped indignantly and Draco scowled menacingly. "Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley quiet!" shouted Professor McGonagall. "I told you that all pairs were final, and that's that."

Harry and Ron gaped at their Head of House, "but Professor you can't seriously make her pair with Malfoy! He'd mess up the spell on purpose just to hurt her!" argued Ron as he put his arm protectively around Hermione.

In the back of the room, Draco and the other Slytherins were chuckling quietly. Draco especially rather enjoyed the idea of screwing up just to hurt Granger, not that he would in front of the class of course, he had his own grades to think about, but outside of class was an entirely different case.

Professor McGonagall gave the Slytherins a reprimanding look before turning to Ron, "Mr. Weasley I said that is enough." Professor McGonagall's face was flushed and she looked even sterner than usual. "The pairs will not be altered, and if I hear of anyone purposely harming their partner as a result of this project," she glared directly at Draco, who glared just as stubbornly back, "the consequences will be severe, is that understood?"

The Sorting Hat finished dividing the class into pairs (Ron was paired with Dean Thomas) and the students eagerly exited the classroom towards the Great Hall where lunch was being served. Hermione sat in between Harry and Ron, but they did not notice that Hermione was not touching her meal until Ginny arrived and said something about it. "Hermione, are you alright?"

Hermione shrugged and continued sticking her fork into the food, but not eating any of it. "Guys I'm not hungry, I'll see you in class." She got up and lifted her bag, but was prevented from leaving by Ron, who grabbed her arm.

"Where are you going?" he asked concernedly.

"Just to the library, I need to chill out for a while, get my mind on something else."

"Ok, later" Ron looked for a moment as if he was going to follow her, and then for some reason decided not to.

"What's up with her?" Ginny asked with a frown.

Harry and Ron told Ginny about Hermione and Malfoy being paired together for their transfiguration assignment.

"Oh poor Hermione, I don't blame her for being upset, I would be livid if I were her," commented Ginny once they were done.

The boys simply nodded in agreement.

- - - - - - - - - -

Draco was pretty proud of himself for the reaction he'd gotten from Granger and her two sidekicks when the Sorting Hat paired them together. Of course, Granger was just about the last person he would have chosen to be partnered with, although Potter, Weasley or Longbottom would be equally horrid. At any rate, although he hated to admit it, having Granger as a partner did have its up sides. For one, even though he absolutely hated her for it, he had no doubt that Granger would be able to successfully transfigure him correctly, so he needn't worry about that. Secondly, though he hated Granger, it was always fun to wind her up and get her angry, which would be all too easy to do now that they were partners. Thirdly, he wouldn't even have to do the research because Granger was bound to do all the grunt work anyway.

As he sat in the common room at the end of the day, he pondered the best way to rile Granger up while they were researching together. He could always use the usual method, call her a bushy-haired mudblood know-it-all, but he was getting rather bored of that, and it didn't have much of an effect lately either. The reaction was always the same, barely more than an eye-roll. Maybe this time he would go for a more subtle, yet ultimately more damaging approach. Taunting her about Weasley had had even more on an effect than he had hoped for, so perhaps he would opt for that method the next time he saw her.

"What are you thinking about?" Pansy, and a few other Slytherin girls had come by and were all looking at Draco curiously, no doubt wondering what that devilish smirk crossing his lips was for.

"Nothing much," answered Draco nonchalantly, "just deciding how best to torture Granger."

Pansy scoffed, "I can't believe you have to be paired with _her_!" Draco took note of the jealous twinge in her tone when she spoke.

"I'm planning on making the best of it," Draco said with a casual wave of his hand. He eyed the girls cunningly, "so any preferences for what hex I should hit her with first?"

The girls eagerly offered up suggestions, and by the end of the night half the house was sitting around together plotting elaborate demises for their three most hated Gryffindors.

- - - - - - - - - -

After the horrid transfiguration class in which Hermione got paired with the world's biggest prat, Hermione sat in the common room brooding. She had already gotten ahead on all her work, so she didn't even have that to distract her. Normally she would have gone ahead with researching human transfiguration; however that was the last subject she wanted to think about at the moment.

Finally, after allowing her to think by herself for long enough, Ron sat beside her and draped his arm around her shoulder. Hermione leaned up against him, simply enjoying his presence and knowing that he cared. "Are you gonna be alright?" he asked.

"I'll survive I suppose."

"Well, I'm coming with you when you have to study with him, I don't want him trying anything," Ron's face was set.

Hermione, who was not accustomed to being ordered around, glanced at him with a slight look of surprise. After thinking on it, she smiled and gave him a soft kiss, "that's very sweet of you Ron, but I don't want him thinking I'm afraid of him. That will only give him license to taunt me till the day I die, not as if he won't do that already, but still."

"I won't be obvious about it, I'll just be in the background, like a spy," insisted Ron.

"No really, I can handle Malfoy, I'm just not looking forward to it." When Ron looked as if he was going to continue arguing, Hermione took his hand in hers and kissed him again. "Trust me Ron, I can take care of myself. And it's not like he can really do anything to me while we're in the library. It will be fine."

Ron still looked as if he was going to argue, so Hermione leaned in and kissed him for a third time. This time Ron returned the kiss and then some. It was quite late when Hermione finally forced herself to stand. Only the thought of classes the following day seemed to provide her with enough motivation to move away from Ron.

"Goodnight Hermione," said Ron, who was still on the couch in a rather bemused state, he was smiling much wider than usual.

Hermione meanwhile was trying very hard to contain the butterflies which were fluttering furiously in her stomach. Sure, she and Ron had kissed before, but snogging like that, that was something entirely different, and it left Hermione feeling all giggly inside.

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Alright, I promise that the main plot will begin next chapter (so no more HG/RW stuff, since I know many of you don't like that). Until then, I hope you enjoyed chapter three, and I'd love to hear what you think in a review!


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: ** Harry Potter and everything you recognize belongs to J.K. Rowling, the plot however is all mine.

**A/N:** Just to warn you again, in case anyone has not read HBP yet (shame on you!) this chapter does contain more spoilers. Thank you to everyone who reviewed chapter 3!

_Steelo, totally-spaz, Sunflower18 _– lol yes I know, I hate the RW/HG stuff too, and as promised, there's none of it in this chapter (yay!). lol Thanks for the reviews, and I hope you guys like the chapter!  
_FallenThrough, CrazySexyCool106, anIme-prYncess _– thanks for the reviews! I hope you all like this chapter.  
_Anydaynow, sweetsummersun31_ – Aww thank you so much! I'm very happy that you're enjoying the story, and I hope you continue to like it, thank you very much for the review!  
_Modaprincessa, marajade64 _– thank you! I'm very happy that you like it, and I hope you like this chapter too.  
_Ocean Tranquility_ – applauds That was such a dramatic story, and the reenactment was breathtaking! I'm very glad to hear that you got the internet working (and I hope it stays working this time) and I'm also glad that my fic helped to brighten your day.

Now back to the story!

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**Chapter 4: Transfiguration Project**

It had been two weeks since school began and Draco knew that he had to get to work on his task. He had already devised the general plan for how to do it over the summer, and the first thing he needed to do was to fix the school's vanishing cabinet.

Last year, Draco had learned that the vanishing cabinet in Hogwarts was connected to the one in Borgin and Burke's over in Knockturn Alley when Montague somehow got stuck in it. When Draco received his task from the Dark Lord, he immediately thought of how to use the connection to his best advantage. He was almost certain that no one else had made the connection, so once the cabinet was fixed; Draco would be able to sneak anything in and out of the castle completely undetected. In short, he had found a way to outsmart everyone, including their seemingly omniscient Headmaster, Dumbledore.

Draco smirked to himself as he strode through the empty halls. Today was Saturday, and all the fifth, sixth, and seventh years were stuck in their common rooms studying. And thankfully it was a pleasant day outside, so all the lower years were entertaining themselves outside, so Draco didn't have to be particularly sneaky or worry about running into anyone. Draco stopped in front of the tapestry of Barnabas the Balmy. This was the place where Potter had been holding his secret DA meetings last year, and since relatively few people even knew about this room, it was the perfect place to work on the vanishing cabinet without disruption.

Draco looked up and down the long corridor to make sure that it was completely empty, and then he closed his eyes and thought of what he needed. He needed a place to work on the cabinet where he would not be disturbed. When he opened his eyes he saw that what had once been a blank space of wall behind the tapestry was now a small wooden door. Draco opened the door and stepped into a room filled with all sorts of clutter. He stepped forward, making sure to close the door behind him, all around him he saw all sorts of junk, old sort of stuff that was either broken or no longer used. Towards the back and around a tall pile of junk sat the vanishing cabinet. Draco hurried towards it, but his excitement about finding it was instantly dampened when he saw just how badly broken it was. Fixing it was obviously going to be much harder, and take much longer than he had anticipated. And to make matters worse, he had no idea where to begin. He had badgered Borgin to tell him how, but the pathetic shopkeeper had proven to be of no help whatsoever.

Draco groaned, he hated doing this sort of menial labor, Malfoy's were not meant to do this sort of thing, this was for servants, muggles and mudbloods. But Draco was not about to complain, for that would be seen as a weakness in his Master's eyes. The last thing Draco wanted to do was disappoint or anger the Dark Lord, for he knew well and good that if he did, it would most likely be the last thing he _ever_ did. That thought had a surprising humbling effect on Draco, he let out a breath he did not realize he was holding and decided to first completely assess the damage, and then he would decide where to start.

He slowly stepped around the cabinet so as to assess the damage from all sides. He then opened the door and saw that the inside was an even bigger mess than the outside, there were broken boards jammed at all angles on the inside. Draco stepped back and began absentmindedly pacing the room with his hands in his pockets. His left hand clenched around the panther statue, which he had become accustomed to carrying with him everywhere.

When no startling revelations came to him, he stopped pacing, took the panther out of his pocket, sat on the ground next to the cabinet, and placed the panther on the base of the cabinet. "What do you think?" he asked aloud, though he did not expect any sort of response.

However, the panther statue sniffed at the cabinet beneath it, and then turned and walked into the shadows at the back. It made an astonishing leap onto one of the broken boards and began to climb. It was rather intriguing for Draco to watch the panther's progress; the blue jeweled eyes seemed to be glistening back at him. Draco was nearly entranced watching the panther, until something in his mind snapped him back to attention; he stood up and kicked a pile of junk out of frustration. He was about to snatch up the panther and storm out when the small silver statue made what was most definitely a growl. Draco stopped short; the statue had never made any sort of noise before.

The panther growled again, he turned his head towards something, and then looked back at Draco, the jewel eyes seemed to shine brighter for a brief moment. Draco stepped forward cautiously; the statue had never acted like this before, not that statues could act of course, Draco shook his head deciding that maybe he was going crazy. Well, crazy or not, Draco took a closer look inside the cabinet where the panther seemed to be gesturing to. To his astonishment, he found a compartment that was hidden behind all the broken boards, "that's it!" he cried aloud, "that's how they're connected!"

The panther held its head up high as if in confirmation, and then it made a leap down to the ground which was so graceful it might have been floating. Draco leaned halfway inside the cabinet to see if there was anything else he'd missed. He tried to push the boards out of the way, but they wouldn't budge. Draco groaned and strained as he made three more attempts to remove the boards, but with no progress. He looked down to the panther, "Alright, so now I have to find a way to move the boards without blasting the whole thing apart, then we can go from there." He didn't even realize he was talking aloud to the panther statue; sometimes it was so lifelike it was as if it were a real animal. It certainly seemed to have a mind of its' own, and it helped Draco think to actually voice his thoughts aloud, even if he didn't receive a response. Actually, it was the same technique that he used around Crabbe and Goyle, although the panther statue had a much larger brain than the two of those useless lumps put together. The panther meanwhile, made no sign of disapproval to Draco's plan, so subconsciously Draco took that as an indication that his idea was good.

"I wonder . . ." Draco took out his wand and aimed it at one of the boards, "wingardium leviosa!" He gave his wand the proper swish and flick movement, however rather than move the boards as he'd intended, the entire cabinet levitated upward. Draco carefully guided it back to the ground and stowed his wand back inside his pocket. He hadn't really expected it to work that simply, but it had been worth a shot. Yet seeing as there was little he could do without the proper spell, Draco thought it best to leave. He'd do some research in the library, then come back another day.

As if sensing that Draco was leaving, the panther made one smooth leap towards Draco. Its silver claws caught on Draco's robes, and it climbed its way back into Draco's pocket where it curled up and became an ordinary statue once again. Draco strode past all the piles of junk to the door, since his mind was so focused on the vanishing cabinet, he didn't bother to peek outside before he opened the door wide and took a step into the corridor. As soon as he did he knew it was a mistake, up ahead he heard voices, one quick glance told him who it was, the Golden Trio, the last three people he wanted to run into in the entire castle. In a flash, he launched himself back into the room of requirement and closed the door as quietly, yet as quickly as possible. He darted behind a pile of stuff just in case they decided to investigate. After a good couple minutes of nothing, Draco scowled at himself. Him, a Malfoy, and a Death Eater on top of that, hiding from three pathetic Gryffindors like a pathetic baby.

Draco scoffed, held his head higher than usual and strode confidently towards the door. But even with his haughty attitude, this time he inched open the door and looked up and down the corridor. Thankfully this time it was empty, so he slipped out, closed the door behind him, and sped his way down the hall in the direction opposite of where Potter and the gang had gone. This way was a longer route to the dungeons, but at the same time, he was guaranteed not to run into the three Gryffindors he hated most along the way.

- - - - - - - - - -

"Did you hear something?" Harry interrupted suddenly as he, Ron, and Hermione were walking down the seventh floor corridor complaining about the massive loads of homework Snape had assigned them over the weekend. They were wandering the castle while taking a break from studying.

"Huh?" asked Ron, who had just been in the middle of an extra long rant about vile methods of killing Snape when Harry stopped him.

"What was that Harry?" Hermione had been too busy tuning Ron's rant out to hear anything else.

Harry looked back down the empty hallway, "I guess it was nothing, I just thought I heard something."

Hermione took a skeptical look down the hallway, "I'm sure it was nothing Harry, we're all just a bit overworked at the moment."

"Amen to that!" agreed Ron heartily as the three continued their way down the hall with Ron continuing to ramble on about all the horrid things he wanted to do to Snape.

Harry couldn't help but glance back a few more times before they left the corridor. There was something nagging him about it, but he couldn't put his finger on what it was.

For some reason, later that night, when they were studying together in the common room after dinner, it clicked in Harry's subconscious, "the room of requirement!" he announced suddenly.

Hermione and Ron started at him with perplexed expressions as if her were going crazy. Harry's eyes were wide with mischief, Hermione nudged him. "Harry, what is it?"

"Remember when we were walking through the corridor and I thought I heard something?"

"Yeah," said Hermione hesitantly.

"Well, something was bothering me, and I just realized that that corridor is where the Room of Requirement is! I think someone might have been there!" cried Harry, obviously expecting Hermione and Ron to be as excited about his revelation as he was.

"Okay," said Hermione with furrowed eyebrows.

"So?" asked Ron.

"So . . . well don't you wonder who it was? And why they were there?"

"Harry mate, I think you were just hearing things," shrugged Ron.

"Yes," agreed Hermione, "and besides, even if you're right and there was someone there, it shouldn't matter. Right now you need to be focusing on your work."

Harry huffed and rolled his eyes, but returned to his work anyway. He was sure he had heard something, and now he was curious to find out who it had been.

- - - - - - - - - -

"Alright class, that is enough!" Professor McGonagall called over all the voices shouting out spells in her transfiguration class. "I must say that I'm rather disappointed with your lack of success, you will all practice and by next lesson I expect to see some major improvements."

The class, all but Hermione, groaned. Draco was angry with himself, he should be able to do this transfiguration shit no problem, but his mind just wasn't in it. He'd gone back to the room of requirement twice that week, and he'd been in the library more than Granger, yet he still hadn't made any progress with the stupid vanishing cabinet. Deep inside, he was becoming nervous, the Dark Lord would expect results, and Draco had assumed that he'd have made at least some progress by now. If the Dark Lord found out, Draco would be in real trouble. Those thoughts were the ones governing his conscience, and they left little room for frivolous thoughts such as those about school. As a result, he was doing pitifully in just about all his classes, all but defense against the dark arts, which Snape was now teaching. Snape kept pulling Draco aside and offering to help him with his task. Draco hated the fact that Snape seemed to want to take away Draco's glory by taking over his task, so Draco made sure that Snape saw nothing out of the ordinary as far as Draco's behavior was concerned.

"Now class," McGonagall interrupted Draco's brooding thoughts, "Before next week's class, I want you all to begin your research for your project. This research _must _be done with your partner. No exceptions. Next class I expect to see a list of reading materials about human transfigurations, I expect you both to have begun reading them, and to be sure everyone is working, I expect a paragraph from each of you detailing what you and your partner did."

The entire class, Hermione included this time, groaned even louder.

Professor McGonagall glared sternly at them. "This research meeting is required and I shall accept no excuses! You're dismissed." Professor McGonagall strode out of the room to her office.

Meanwhile, the students all packed up their things mumbling with annoyance to themselves. The students who were paired with classmates from another house were especially ill-tempered.

Hermione told Harry and Ron to wait for her outside while she scheduled a meeting with Malfoy. From her position at the front of the room, Hermione eyed Malfoy apprehensively. She knew she should go over there and schedule a meeting time, but truth be told she was a bit wary around him lately. He seemed to be looking angrier and meaner than usual this year. His famous smirk had been replaced with an ever-present scowl, and Hermione didn't like it. Nevertheless, her hard-working confident side took control, and she marched right up to him. Thankfully, most of the other Slytherins had already left, so she didn't have to face an entire pack of them. Malfoy had his back turned to her and was putting his books and stuff back in his bag, so she cleared her throat to get his attention.

No such luck, either he was deaf or he was ignoring her. Hermione assumed it was the latter, so this time she spoke. "Malfoy, I think we should schedule a time to meet at the library for our project." He still made no response, not even to turn and glare at her. But Hermione knew he'd heard her so she continued.

"Alright, I'll see you at the library, at 3 o'clock this Saturday then." Hermione made to leave when Malfoy finally rounded on her.

"I've got a better idea mudblood," he spat with a glare, "you go to the library, and we'll both show up to class with a paragraph pretending that I was there too."

Hermione pursed her lips. "Not a chance Malfoy! For one, there's no way I'm lying to a professor like that for you. And Secondly, I refuse to allow you to sail through this project and then try to transfigure me into something at the end without you doing any of the research."

"Keep thinking that mudblood, that sort of work is what house-elves and mudbloods are for."

Hermione's face flushed with anger. "Either you show up on time and help, or I'm telling McGonagall that you're lazy arse refused to cooperate, and then she'll fail you right from the start!"

Draco sneered, the last thing he needed was attention to the fact that he was doing dreadfully in his classes. Though he had been planning on spending all of Saturday working on the vanishing cabinet, he had no trouble believing that Granger meant what she said, so he was forced to give in. Giving in was not something Malfoy's did easily. "FINE!" he roared as he shoved past her while muttering under his breath, "filthy mudblood bitch."

- - - - - - - - - -

Come Saturday, Hermione, while never opposed to a trip to the library was mortified that she would have to actually go and work with Draco Malfoy. Normally, she would have eagerly volunteered to do all the research herself just to get him off her back, but as she didn't want him to mess up transfiguring her, she knew she had no choice but to make sure that he seriously studied and understood the concept as well. She had never paid attention to how any of the Slytherins did in transfiguration, though she was guessing that Malfoy had to be better than the majority of his housemates at least. Then again, that wasn't saying much.

At first she had been concerned that Ron might try to come along again, but luckily he and Harry had decided to go practice quidditch. Ron felt he needed practice before tryouts, which Hermione quite agreed with. Initially she was relieved, however as she drew nearer to the library, she began to wish he was there with her, or even better she wished that both he and Harry, then even Malfoy in all his arrogance wouldn't dare to try anything. But her friends were not there, she was all alone, and she could not show any apprehension, or else Malfoy would see it written all over her face, and he's taunt her about it to no end.

So it was with a deep sense of foreboding that Hermione trudged into the library Saturday at exactly three o'clock, hoping against hope that she would have an eventless afternoon studying. Unsurprisingly, (in her mind at least) she arrived first. She hadn't expected Malfoy to arrive on time; she rather thought that since he assumed the universe revolved around him, whatever time he decided to show up, in his mind, was the correct time. With a roll of her eyes and an annoyed huff, she began browsing the library shelves for useful books.

Draco in fact, was at the library when Hermione arrived; however, he was in one of the back corners, still trying to find a spell to use on the vanishing cabinet. He had found several that would move the boards; however they all would most likely destroy the rest of the cabinet along with them, so they were useless to him. Draco was deeply engrossed in the latest book he'd pulled from the shelf when the panther, which had been prowling along the bookshelves, jumped down and landed on his wrist right next to his watch. Draco glanced down and saw that it was already 3:10, he was late. While he would have gladly left Granger alone to do the project while he dealt with more important things, her threat from class was still clear in his mind, and he had no doubt believing that she would tell McGonagall if he failed to show up, so with a heavy sigh, he returned the book to the shelf and stood up to find Granger.

He found her towards the front of the library already searching for a book. He couldn't understand why she had been so against his not showing up, she hated him as much as he hated her, so it wasn't like she wanted to study with him. No, Draco decided that she just wanted to make his life as miserable as possible, 'Well, two can play at that game,' he thought as she came nearer to him. He had every intention of making this encounter with Granger absolutely horrible for her, partially because making her mad was so much fun, and also because the worse this meeting was, the less likely it was that she'd make him study with her again.

Hermione came to the end of the first row of books she had been searching through when she jumped. There, leaning casually on the side of the bookcase was Malfoy, eying her with a definite look of disgust. Malfoy sneered, "Actually here alone Granger? I would have thought your precious Weasel would have forced you to take him along. He can't have wanted to leave you alone with big bad Malfoy."

"Shut it Malfoy!" Hermione ordered in a tone that granted her disapproving looks from the vulture-like librarian.

"Ohh, a little touchy aren't we?" Draco mocked, this was exactly the reaction he was hoping to get from Granger, and he wasn't going to let it stop now. "What's the matter Granger? Trouble in paradise?" Draco looked thrilled at the thought; anything that caused Granger misery was fine with him.

Hermione huffed and pretended not to hear him. She returned her attention to the bookshelf, but she wasn't even reading the titles, she was focusing all her attention on drowning Malfoy's words out of her mind, hoping that the less she spoke, the less he'd taunt her. Unfortunately, rather than ignore her, he was taunting her anyway, about the very subject she least wanted to be discussing (or rather arguing about) with Draco Malfoy. She loved Ron, Ron was her boyfriend, but Hermione had still not forgotten what had happened on the train, and whenever she thought about it (usually in her sleep when she couldn't block the thoughts out) she began to doubt her feelings for Ron. So what if she hadn't felt that spark between them when they kissed that she'd read about in books, and watched on muggle movies and TV shows? None of those were real, so there probably was no such thing as a spark anyway; it was all just in her imagination.

But Draco wasn't to be ignored, he was in the mood for fun, and riling up Granger was just the fun he was looking for. Clearly however, she was determined not to be tempted by discussing her looser of a boyfriend, perhaps another subject would get her going. He position himself next to her, so that she could not continue her search for books without bumping into him, then he whispered, "so, nice having a _real_ professor in Care of Magical Creatures, isn't it? I mean that bloody oaf can't even contain a box of harmless snidgets for god's sake!"

This, it turned out, was just the thing Draco needed to say, for Hermione glared at him, her eyes livid and her fists balled up in rage. "There is nothing wrong with the way Hagrid teaches, he knows more about magical creatures than anyone else. And everyone knows it was ­_you_ who let the snidgets loose!" She made sure to keep her voice down this time, but the anger in her tone was clear.

Draco smirked as if extremely proud of himself, "if _everyone_ knew that, then why is he suspended, whilst I suffer no punishment at all?"

Hermione opened her mouth, still obviously outraged, but for once could not think of a comeback.

Malfoy went one step further, "speaking of which, since you're so confident that I did it, why didn't you tell anyone? Surely Dumbledore would believe you, the muggle-born member of the Gryffindor golden trio, rather than me, a mere Slytherin."

Hermione glared at him with narrowed eyes, but closed her mouth. She then shoved passed him, and resumed her search, determined not to allow him to taunt her anymore. In all honesty, she didn't know why she hadn't gone to Dumbledore and told him it was Malfoy's fault. Perhaps, deep down, a part of her did prefer classes taught by Professor Grubbly-Plank rather than Hagrid. They certainly were more useful, and nowhere near as dangerous. Not that she would ever let Malfoy know she felt that way of course, though something told her that he knew anyhow.

Draco threw her an arrogant smirk, he was well aware that he had gotten beneath her skin. He could tell that she was not really focusing on her search, and he was all the more proud of himself for it. Hermione was fuming so much that she was not even paying attention to where she was in the library, and she had yet to find any books that would help the research. In an effort to put as much space between her and Malfoy as possible, she stomped off to the back corner by the restricted section, hoping he would not follow her. She thought she was safe, when he didn't show up to pester her after a couple minutes, so she was finally becoming able to focus again. Unfortunately for her, Draco tracked her down and his drawling voice interrupted her thought process yet again.

"Have you found anything yet?" he spat.

"No, perhaps if you would actually do your share of the work, you would find something yourself."

"Why should I do the work when there's a perfectly capable mudblood here to do it all for me?" he drawled arrogantly.

Hermione clenched her teeth together, "You're not getting through this assignment without doing your share of the work, I am not allowing you to transfigure me without knowing you've done the preparation for it. And if you weren't being such an arse we would be able to find something!"

From the front of the library, there came several loud "shhh's!" Hermione closed her mouth with frustration.

"And how am I supposed to perform the spell correctly if you haven't found the books?" taunted Draco.

"You could try finding the god damned books yourself Malfoy!"

Draco smirked at his success. Not only was she now turning red, but he got her to swear in the library, which she considered to be a sacred place. This was just too much fun.

Hermione shot him a furious glare before turning her head back to the books. She was desperately scanning the titles if only if distract her from the insufferable jerk which was Malfoy. Finally, in a dusty corner of the shelf, which looked like it had never been visited, she glanced upon a book that looked like it may be appropriate. She could not read the whole title because it was half faded, but the first part read "The Complete Guide to Wizarding Trans . . ." then the rest was faded away. Assuming that the rest of the final word was Transfiguration, she pulled it down from the shelf. "I think this one may be helpful." She said before she could stop herself.

Draco narrowed his eyes and strode forward and attempted to grab the book from her hands, "let me see that."

"Malfoy, give it to me!"

Draco did not stop, instead he grabbed the cover, and she held onto the rest of it. In the midst of their fighting, the book opened. Instantly, there was an intense swooshing noise, as if they were suddenly engulfed in a small tornado. Both students' feet were ripped from the library floor, and they felt as if they were drowning. Though to them the feelings seemed to last an eternity, in under a second, they were sucked out of the library without a trace, save for the dusty old book, which had fallen open on the floor. It glowed for a mere moment after they were gone, and then it faded away, leaving nothing other than an ordinary old book.

They were spinning furiously, with no sign of stopping. The feeling that their lungs were being compacted and strangled doubled as they crashed through the darkness. The journey seemed to last forever and Hermione was sure her ribs her going to crack and her lungs would burst due to the enormous pressure that was on them. But then, all at once, just as suddenly as the feeling had begun, it stopped, and they were thrown onto the hard ground.

Hermione completely blacked out for about ten minutes. But when she regained consciousness, she used all her remaining strength to roll onto her back. She kept her eyes closed and was gasping for breath, the air felt so sweet to her deprived lungs; it was as if she had never breathed properly before. Her limbs were tingling with the live-giving oxygen which was now flooding into her veins and through her body. Next to her, she heard the sounds of something moving. She could hear the scraping on the dirt as something shifted.

- - - - - - - - - -

Unlike Hermione, Draco did not loose consciousness when he hit the ground. He sat up, and forced his eyes open, and he did not like what he saw one bit. Somehow they had landed smack in the middle of a very small clearing surrounded on all sides by trees. But these were not like any trees Draco had ever seen; these trees had trunks as black as Draco's ebony wand. The smaller ones, which were all clustered close to the clearing had sharp spikes pointing out of them, and looked rather deadly should one run into them.

Out of the corner of his eye, Draco noticed a lump of black robes with a mass of bushy brown hair at the top. "Granger," he seethed. No doubt she was to blame for this bloody mess, sending him god knows where for absolutely no reason. She was laying face down and he couldn't tell if she was breathing or not. His first thought was to hope she had died simply because it would serve her right for attempting to pull a stunt like this on him. But then he took another look around and decided that she'd better be alive, so he could yell at her for causing this mess, then once she'd gotten him back to Hogwarts he'd have the joy of killing her himself.

Draco nudged her a few times with his foot, but she was apparently out cold. Draco scoffed and muttered something about useless mudbloods before kicking dirt at her head, turning and stomping straight into the forest with the intention of figuring out where he was. His expensive robes snagged on a few of the tree spikes, and Draco cursed as he violently tore himself free.

It didn't take long for Draco to realize that something was terribly wrong. It was steadily growing darker, as forests usually did the deeper you went in, however the trees were getting further apart. One of the things Draco had learned from his experiences in the forest at school was that the deeper you went in, the closer together the trees got. Therefore, it made absolutely no sense for these trees to be getting further apart, unless . . . unless this forest was home to some very large and very dangerous magical creatures; the sort of beasts that the bloody oaf would try to cuddle all the while insisting that they were harmless.

Upon making this realization, Draco's ears became alert to everything. Every leaf rustling in the breeze, every twig snapping beneath his shoes was magnified, and it resounded in his head to the point where Draco felt as though he were drowning in noise. In a flash, he turned back the way he came and charged towards Granger, he didn't care that she was still laying helplessly on the ground, she was going to fix whatever the hell she did.

- - - - - - - - - -

Panic ensued in Hermione's head. 'What was that? Where was she?' She wanted desperately to move, or at least to open her eyes, but she could not find the strength. Her eyelids felt as though they each were held shut with a 100 pound weight.

She then heard what must have been footsteps on the ground. She breathed a little easier when the footsteps grew a bit fainter, apparently whatever it was, was moving away from her. Hermione continued trying to catch her breath, but then the footsteps rushed towards her and before she could open her eyes, she was violently lifted to her feet. She screeched and opened her eyes, and found herself staring into two terrifyingly livid steel gray eyes.

"What the fuck did you do!" he roared loud enough to startle a flock of birds into flight from a nearby tree.

Hermione cringed, but was still so completely lost that she didn't even open her mouth to answer.

When Hermione didn't respond, Draco threw her back to the ground.

She landed with a loud grunt of pain. She was sure she would have a bruise on her knee now, not to mention a cut on her hand from trying to break her fall. But the pain didn't register nearly as strong as her anger. She still had no clue what had happened, or what was going on, but Draco had a skill for sparking the fires of anger deep inside her. "I could ask you the same question!" she yelled. She forced herself to stand; she did not like the idea of sitting on the ground when there was a furious, and most likely violent, Draco Malfoy so close to her.

"I didn't fucking send us to the middle of nowhere, you did you filthy bitch!"

"I didn't do a damn think Malfoy! And calm down you pathetic moron, we're probably just by Hagrid's hut or something!"

"Do you see the bloody oaf's hut? Cause I can't even see the damn castle!" Draco stomped towards the trees, and disappeared into the darkness.

Hermione could hear the crunching of his pricey shoes on the twigs which littered the ground, and for a moment, she simply glared at the spot where he had gone. 'Pathetic Malfoy, overreacting to everything.' But then Hermione got a chance to look around, and she gasped. Malfoy apparently wasn't overeating, she did not see Hagrid's hut, or Hogwarts anywhere, nor were these the type of trees which belonged to the Hogwarts forest.

"Oh my God, where are we?"

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So, now they're stuck together, so the plot can truly begin! I hope everyone's as excited as I am to get this fic going. As always, I really appreciate reviews. Thanks to everyone who's reading my fic, you're awesome!


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: ** Harry Potter and belongs to J.K. Rowling, not me.

**A/N:** I'm sorry for the delayed update, but I was really busy, and then I had to get my other fic updated cause it took me even longer to get that one updated. But now I seem to be in more of a writing mood, so hopefully that means that the update won't take as long for the next chapter (I hope I hope I hope). Anyway, thank you so much to everyone who reviewed last chapter!

_FallenThrough_ – alright, here are the answers to your questions: you'll find out where they are later, they're not in the dark forest, they did not go back in time, and they're not in the same country. I hope the update didn't take too long, and thanks for the review!  
_Chantal J and Sam, m, Londonmalfoy, Sunflower18, midnightwanderer01_ – thanks for the reviews! I'm glad you alllike it!  
_marajade64_ – thank you! I'm glad you think so. I hope you like this chapter too!  
_elektra30_ – yay! I'm so glad you liked the chapter so much, I hope you enjoy this one as well. Thanks for the review (and update your fic again I want to read more! lol )  
_totally-spaz_ – you'll find out where they are eventually, as soon as they find out where they are. Thanks for the review!

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**Chapter 5: Searching for Hermione and Draco**

"And did you see the way I stopped that last quaffle? It just about flew through my fingertips!" cried Ron jubilantly as he and Harry entered the castle after practicing quidditch all afternoon.

"Yeah mate, you were awesome" agreed Harry, who was relieved that Ron had done so well. He really didn't want to have to cut Ron from the team at tryouts, and their practice that afternoon gave him confidence that he wouldn't have to.

"I wonder why Hermione didn't come watch," Ron said with a hint of disappointment in his tone.

"She's probably just studying in the common room or talking with Ginny. I'm sure she'd love to hear all about how well you did though."

"Yeah," Ron perked up again, "I'll tell her about how I . . ."

Harry tuned Ron out as he began another slightly over-exaggerated replay of his most impressive saves. But Ron didn't seem to care that Harry wasn't listening, and he continued talking all through the castle until they reached the common room. Once inside, the boys spotted Ginny, and went to sit by the fire with her.

"Hey, where's Hermione?" asked Ron as soon as he plopped down onto the couch.

Ginny shrugged and kept her eyes on her essay, "I don't know, she never came back from the library. I assumed she went down to the pitch to watch you, but maybe she's still studying."

"But she didn't bring any of her books with her," Ron said with a frown.

"And there's no way in hell she and Malfoy would spend that long together without killing each other," added Harry.

Ron's eyes went wide and he grabbed Harry's shoulder so tight that it hurt.

"Oww!" Harry jerked away, "Geeze, relax mate, I didn't mean it literally!"

"Right, I knew that," agreed Ron, sounded much more relieved. "But why don't we go to the library any way, just to see how she's doing?"

Ron, Harry, and Ginny piled out of the common room, "you know" said Ginny as they started down the hall, "I bet she just started reading some book and lost track of time."

"You're probably right," agreed Harry.

Ron nodded, but plowed ahead nonetheless.

The three Gryffindors received a suspicious look from Madam Pince when they arrived. It seemed as though the librarian was always wary when too many students entered the library at once. To expedite their search, Harry went to the left, Ginny to the right, and Ron searched the middle. After ten minutes of searching, they reconvened at the front, each looking quite a bit more worried than before. "Any luck?" asked Ron, although he knew the answer was clearly 'no'.

"Umm, maybe she got hungry and went down to the Great Hall, I mean it is already dinner time," suggested Ginny.

"Could be," agreed Harry, although something inside him doubted it.

Ron didn't say anything; instead he turned on his heel and flew out of the library. Harry and Ginny followed at his heels, and while they weren't running, they were walking fast enough to draw curious expressions from the students they passed along the way. Ron threw the Great Hall doors open much harder than normal, causing heads to turn but he and the others paid no attention. They immediately rushed to the Gryffindor table, but their sense of worry only increased when they saw no sign of Hermione's bushy hair.

"Hey guys," Ron interrupted a conversation between Dean, Seamus, Lavender and Parvati, "Have any of you seen Hermione? We've been looking all over for her."

"Nope," the four Gryffindors shook their heads, "you sure she's not in the library?"

"That's the first place we looked," said Harry.

"Well, if we see her, we'll tell her you're looking for her," said Lavender.

"Thanks," Harry said before he Ginny and Ron stepped aside to talk.

"You guys don't think that Malfoy did anything to her, do you," asked Ginny.

"I wouldn't put it passed him," said Harry.

"Bloody git-faced ferret," muttered Ron "If he's hurt her, I swear I'll kill him."

"Right behind you mate," agreed Harry.

The two boys led the way out of the Great Hall towards the dungeons. Ron looked absolutely livid, and he charged down the stairs so fast you'd think he fell. But despite his anger, he was unable to hide his surprise when he literally crashed into Pansy Parkinson, who was fuming just as furiously as Ron.

- - - - - - - - - -

"Crabbe, Goyle! Where's Draco?" Pansy demanded once the two gorilla-sized Slytherin's entered the common room carrying armfuls of sweets from dinner. They both shrugged and looked around stupidly in response. "Well, was he in the Great Hall with you two?" she pressed, thinking that perhaps they were too stupid to have remembered eating with Draco at first.

"No, he wasn't with us," answered Crabbe.

"Ugh, where the hell is he?" Pansy fumed. She threw down her book down causing a bottle of ink on the table to topple over.

"What's your problem?" demanded Theodore Nott, who yanked his essay off the table just in time to avoid having it covered in ink.

"Draco!" yelled Pansy, "where the hell is he, he should have been back from studying with the mudblood hours ago!"

"Evanesco!" Nott cleaned the ink from the table and put his essay back down. "Why don't you just go to the library and get him if you care so much?"

"I will," and with that, Pansy left her books in the common room while she went searching for Draco in the library.

Once at the library, Pansy threw the door open, causing several students to drop their books in surprise, and Madam Pince to angrily 'shhh' at her. Pansy scowled at the librarian, and then charged to the back of the library. "Draco!" she whispered angrily. But there was no answer. She walked up and down every isle of shelves hissing Draco's name, but not finding him anywhere. She finally reached the restricted section, and for a few moments she debated slipping inside and looking for Draco in there, but she glanced back and saw Madam Pince's hawk eyes on her, as if waiting for her to cross the line. Pansy sneered, but didn't push her luck, instead she just called in a whisper "Draco? Draco!"

Pansy heard quick shark steps coming up behind her, and she knew that she was about to be kicked out from the library. "Are you looking for something?" The stern voice of the librarian said.

Has anyone been into the restricted section today?" Pansy asked, ignoring Madam Pince's question.

"No, no one has been in there today. Now, if you're not here to study I must insist that you leave now."

Pansy rolled her eyes, but stomped out of the library anyhow.

Madam Pince followed Pansy's progress with narrowed, suspicious eyes. She then went inside the restricted section to make sure that no one had slipped her notice and gotten in without her knowing it. But the restricted section was empty as usual. As she closed the door leading to the restricted section, she noticed a book lying open on the floor in the next isle. She muttered something about lazy, sloppy children not respecting books properly. She moved forward, lifted the book, noticing that the title was half faded as she did so, but she knew what the book was called anyway. She replaced "The complete Guide to Wizarding Transportation: A journey through time, space, and dimension" back to its place on the shelf and then returned to her post at her desk.

Pansy was furious that she had not found Draco, and as she stood outside the library with her arms crossed, the answer came to her. "Mudblood!" she hissed under her breath. She then went storming back to the dungeons to get reinforcements. She was willing to bet anything that the mudblood and her two guard dogs were responsible for Draco's disappearance. Why hadn't she thought of it before? She was positive that while he had been studying with Granger, Potter and Weasley must have snuck up behind him and hexed him. Then they must have hidden him, assuming no one would try to find him. But they were wrong, and she was going to force them to tell her what they did, and then after she found him and made sure he was alright, they'd make those three Gryffindor idiots pay, dearly.

Pansy hardly paid attention to where she was going as she plowed through the labyrinth of dungeon corridors to the common room. She barked the password and crashed into the common room causing all heads to turn. Most just looked to see who it was, then went back to their work, but those who knew where she had gone wore curious expressions.

"Couldn't find him?" Nott asked.

"No, and I think I know why," answered Pansy, "I think that mudblood and her two friends must have cursed Draco while he was studying. I'm going to find them and make them pay, whose coming with me?"

"Those three idiots, take on Draco? Not a chance! They couldn't do anything to him, he'd hex them all at once before they even had time to draw their wands!" argued Nott.

"Not if he and Granger were studying, and Potter and Weasley hexed him from behind," reasoned Pansy.

Nott considered this, "I wouldn't have thought they'd have the guts to attack someone from behind, but then again, considering who we're talking about you're probably right."

"So are you coming with me to make them suffer and find Draco?" asked Pansy.

"Absolutely," Nott tossed his stuff down, "Crabbe, Goyle, come on we're going to beat up Gryffindors!"

Crabbe and Goyle got up and flexed their muscles; they looked almost as excited as they did around mealtimes. Meanwhile, Nott went over to the entrance to the boys dormitories and shouted, "Oi, Blaise! We're going to go beat up the Gryffindor Golden Trio and make them pay for hexing Malfoy, you in?"

After a moment, they heard Blaise stomp up the stairs, "the Gryffindors hexed Draco?" he asked.

"They must have, cause Pansy can't find him anywhere, and last we checked, he was studying for the stupid transfiguration project with the mudblood," Nott answered.

"Alright," Blaise agreed, "I'm in."

"Great let's go!" Pansy took control and led the gang of Slytherins into the dungeons.

They were charging along, Pansy so blinded by thoughts of mutilating the three responsible for Draco's disappearance that she did not hear the footsteps racing down the stairs. She did not have time to stop, or even slow down before she crashed directly into someone's chest. Pansy stumbled back, as did the person she'd crashed into, and when she looked up and saw who it was, her anger more than doubled. She had crashed right into Weasley, who was being followed by Potter and the younger Weasley.

"What the fuck are you doing down here Weasley!" roared Pansy. She and the other Slytherins were glaring at the three Gryffindors.

"Back off Parkinson, and tell us where Malfoy is!" Ron demanded.

"Funny you should ask that since you're the ones who saw him last. Right before you hexed him!"

"What the fuck are you talking about, we haven't seen Malfoy at all today!" shouted Ron.

"But I guarantee you he'll be lucky to be alive by the time we're finished him for whatever he's done to Hermione!" Harry added.

"Draco didn't do anything to your precious mudblood, if he had, he would have told us, and besides, how could he have done anything to her, when it was you two who hexed him while they were studying!"

"You're insane Parkinson, but I'm sure that's exactly what you all did to her! Now either you tell us where Malfoy is, or get out of our way!" demanded Harry, stepping forward and glaring down at Pansy.

"Not a chance Potter!" Pansy roared, drawing her wand.

"Then we'll just have to make you move," threatened Harry removing his wand from his pocket as well.

Blaise, and Nott picked up on Pansy and Potter's actions and drew their wands as well. Ginny noticed the Slytherin wands, and followed suit, she nudged Ron to let him know as well.

"Look Parkinson," Ron ordered, "I don't know what you lot are playing at, but either you tell us what that bastard's done to Hermione, or you'll pay along with him!"

"Not if you pay first," Pansy threatened before brandishing her wand at Ron and throwing the first hex that came to her mind. After that, all hell broke loose and curses were flying indiscriminately all over the place. The scuffle didn't end until five Slytherins and three Gryffindors lay knocked out in the middle of the dungeon corridor covered in hex marks. Ginny has green tentacles sprouting out of her head, Crabbe and Goyle were covered in mucus after nearly being suffocated by Ginny's bat-bogey hex, and Pansy was purple and covered in boils. Ron had sprouted fur all over his face so that he looked like Bigfoot, Harry's skin was bright red and smoke was coming out from his head as if he'd been on fire, and Blaise and Nott had thorns digging into their skin. In addition to the more magical signs of a fight, everyone was sporting some pretty serious cuts and bruises, but everyone was knocked out, so they all remained laying there in a lifeless heap until Snape happened upon the mass of students on his way to his office.

Snape sneered at the pile of students before levitating them all to the hospital wing. While Madam Pomfrey tended to her patients, Professor Snape went to dutifully inform both Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore of what he'd found.

Half an hour, the students each began to wake up, and all were unhappy to find that they were in the hospital wing, with three professors, and Madam Pomfrey glaring down at them. No one ventured to speak, until all of the students were clearly up and alert and Professor Dumbledore began, "would one of you mind telling us what exactly happened here?

There was a stampede of voices responding to the Headmaster's question, every one of the students, including the eternally stupid Crabbe and Goyle, were pleading their cases and explaining their version of what happened.

"Enough!" Professor Dumbledore called over the din. "Mr. Potter, you first," Dumbledore gestured to Harry.

Pansy snorted and rolled her eyes, muttering under her breath, "of course, the golden boy gets to talk first."

"Miss Parkinson, you will have your turn to speak next," Dumbledore interjected, "now Mr. Potter, if you'd be so kind."

"Professor, Malfoy's done something to Hermione! We went looking for her everywhere and were just going down to the dungeons to find him so we could find Hermione. We ran into that lot and they started hexing us."

"That's not true!" shouted Pansy.

"Alright Miss Parkinson, please tell us what happened," Dumbledore said calmly, though his eyes were sharp as daggers.

"They're the ones who did something to Malfoy Professor! I went looking for him everywhere and we were all just going to find the Gryffindors to see what they did to him when they came barging down to the dungeons throwing hexes at us!"

Professor Dumbledore stood up sharply, it did not matter to him so much who started the fight or who threw which curse as it did that apparently two of their top students had gone missing, apparently without a trace. "When was the last time any of you saw Miss Granger or Mr. Malfoy?"

"We were with Hermione right before three o'clock, we dropped her off at the library cause she and Malfoy were going to study for the transfiguration project. Then we went out to play quidditch, and have been looking for her ever since."

Dumbledore nodded, "and Mr. Malfoy?" he asked turning to the Slytherins.

"He went to the library right after lunch, he wanted to study for his other subjects before he had to meet with Granger. But I haven't seen him since," Pansy answered immediately.

"That proves it!" shouted Ron suddenly, "Professor, Malfoy must have gone their early and surprise attacked Hermione as soon as she got there!"

"Then where's Draco you idiot?" Pansy glared at Ron.

"Quiet!" interrupted Dumbledore before another fight broke out.

Pansy and Ron sat in their respective beds glaring daggers at one another, each biting their tongues to keep quiet. Dumbledore turned to Professor McGonagall, "It seems as if everyone agrees that both students were in the library. Minerva, if you would be so kind, could you fetch Madam Pince?"

Professor McGonagall nodded and stepped out of the room, returning several moments later with Madam Pince hurrying behind to keep up. "You wanted to see me Albus?"

"Yes, it seems as if two of our students have gone missing, and the last place they were known to be was the library. Did you see either Miss Granger or Mr. Malfoy today?"

"Yes," Madame Pince confirmed after taking a moment to think, "They both arrived in the afternoon."

"Do you happen to remember when either of them left?" asked Dumbledore.

Madam Pince opened her mouth to respond when a curious expression overcame her. "Actually professor, I don't recall seeing either of them leaving. Although I do remember her," the librarian pointed to Pansy, "coming by not too long ago looking for someone. And those three came by a short time before her, but they left after only a few minutes."

The professors and students were beginning to look rather alarmed; the librarian's hawk-like surveillance never missed anything that went on in the library. If she didn't see Draco or Hermione leave, then that meant that they never did.

"But they had to have left sometime," Ginny said, "we've all been in there looking for them, and we all agree that they weren't there."

Dumbledore paused, "Madam Pince, can you think of anything out of the ordinary that happened, or that you saw in the library today?"

"Not that I can recall Professor," Madam Pince answered with a shrug.

"Nothing? Not even the most seemingly irrelevant thing?" Professor Dumbledore prodded.

"The only thing that was out of place today was a book I found lying open in the ground after I chased her away from the restricted section." Madam Pince pointed at Pansy and shrugged.

"Do you remember what that book was?" Professor Dumbledore continued.

"Well, the title is only half visible, but I know it was 'The Complete Guide to Wizarding Transportation.'"

"Would you mind retrieving that book for me? I would like to have a look at it."

"Of course professor," Madam Pince strode out of the room.

"What are you thinking Albus?" Professor McGonagall asked once the librarian was gone.

"I honestly don't know Minerva, but I am hoping my suspicions are incorrect."

"What suspicions are those Professor?" Ginny asked meekly.

"We have had incidents before where students have uncovered a hexed library book. And I think that may be what we have here."

"Have you had other students suddenly disappear because of hexed books professor?" asked Ron, with a hopeful look in his eyes.

"No Mr. Weasley," Dumbledore responded as Madam Pince reentered the Hospital wing carrying a large dusty book. She handed it to Dumbledore, "thank you, I believe that is all. I will be sure to return the book to you when I am finished."

Dumbledore read the title of the book as Madam Pince walked away. He sighed as the doors closed behind her, "I could have surmised as much." He said cryptically after reading the title.

"Surmised what Professor?" Snape spoke for the first time since they'd arrived.

"According to both stories, Mr. Malfoy and Miss Granger were working on a transfiguration project, and if one were to read this title, it would be easy to assume that the final word is transfiguration, not transportation. I'm guessing that one of them picked up the book under that assumption, and they were both subject to whatever hex was on it."

"How do we know what happened to them professor?"

"It's a simple enough spell Mr. Potter," Dumbledore removed his wand from his cloak and aimed it at the book. "Aperio Incantatum!"

A purple puff of smoke exploded from the book and revealed a smoky form of a globe. The smoke globe spun, slowly at first, then gaining speed until it abruptly came to a halt, and a big black 'X' hovered over the globe. Professor McGonagall gasped and covered her mouth in shock; Professor Snape was looking paler than ever, and Professor Dumbledore's bright blue eyes seemed to have dimmed.

"What does that mean Professor?" Harry asked, there was an urgent sense of worry in his tone.

Dumbledore sighed and viewed each of the students, all of whom were staring at him eagerly, before continuing. "The spinning globe means that they were transported somewhere, and the 'x' means that wherever they are it's unplottable."

"What!" cried Pansy. "But how can that be? How are we going to find Draco again?"

"Who cares about that ferret face!" shouted Ron, "What about Hermione!"

"Calm down everyone!" Professor Dumbledore spoke harshly. "There is nothing any of you can do about this now, there are hundreds, perhaps thousands of unplottable locations in the world, and there is no way for any of you to find them from here. I can assure you that I and the other professors will work as hard as we can to find out where Miss Granger and Mr. Malfoy are and how to get them back as soon as possible."

"But professor there has to be something we can do!" Harry argued.

"Mr. Potter, for once I must insist that you remain here, the odds of you finding an unplottable location, let alone the exact location where Miss Granger and Mr. Malfoy are is just about impossible. I'm sorry." Professor Dumbledore sighed a weary sigh, "Minerva, Severus, to my office I think, we have much to discuss. As for all of you," he addressed the students once more, "you are allowed to leave as soon as Madam Pomfrey dismisses you, however I shall warn you now, if I hear one word of any of you getting into another fight with one another, then in addition to losing house points you will be getting very severe detentions." The students all nodded silently, though inside they were all planning gruesome hexes on the students from the other house.

- - - - - - - - - -

"Headmaster," began Snape once the three professors were in Dumbledore's office "what are we going to do?"

"I don't know Severus," Dumbledore sounded older than usual. "For now we each need to do all the research we can to find where they could have gone, and more importantly, how we can get them back."

"Do you think they will be alright Albus?" asked Professor McGonagall, the fear was plain in her eyes.

"I can only hope so Minerva," answered Dumbledore.

"Well," interjected Snape, "while we're hoping what exactly should we do?"

"Severus, I would like you to compile a list of all known unplottable locations, as soon as possible. Then I will get in touch with persons from those locations and alert them of the problem. Minerva, I would like you to try to figure out what curse was put on the book, then we might have more of an idea of exactly where they are."

"I never should have allowed them to be paired together, I knew it would be trouble from the start," McGonagall lamented.

"Minerva, no one could have foreseen this, so do not go blaming yourself, we need everyone to keep a level head right now. Let's not worry about things which might have been," comforted Dumbledore calmly.

"But Albus," McGonagall said in a small voice, "aren't you the least bit worried about what they'll do to each other? It is no secret that they hate each other, and I shudder to think of what sort of magic Draco Malfoy knows that is not approved of here."

Dumbledore looked gravely from McGonagall to Snape.

Snape sneered, but looked rather pale all the same, "let's just hope they both have enough common sense not to kill each other."

Professor McGonagall gasped and held her hand over her heart. She just couldn't help but worry over the safety of her student, and the brightest young witch she'd ever seen. Hermione Granger, lost alone in some unplottable place with a the a brand new Death Eater by the name of Draco Malfoy. Suddenly, more than hoping to find them, she was simply hoping to find them both alive.

- - - - - - - - - -

It wasn't long after the professors left that Madam Pomfrey dismissed everyone. Pansy led the other Slytherins back to the dungeons, while Harry Ron and Ginny went straight back to Gryffindor tower.

Pansy screamed with rage once she entered the common room, the other Slytherins who were present glared at her, but their glares turned to curious expressions when they saw the other four Slytherins looking equally pissed. "What happened to you guys?" a seventh year asked.

"We went out looking for Draco, and after running into the stupid Gryffindors and getting hexed all the way to the hospital wing we found out that him and the mudblood somehow got transported to some unplottable place because of a cursed book," Blaise answered, since no one else looked like they were in the mood to talk.

"No way!" the seventh year said. Suddenly everyone was interested, and a large crowd gathered by the fireplace. "So are they bringing him back?"

"They can't they don't know where he is," Blaise answered with a shrug.

"Damn!" said one of the fifth years.

"We have to make the Gryffindors pay," Pansy muttered.

"For what?" the seventh year asked.

"I know that this is somehow the mudbloods fault, and since she's not here for me to hex, we'll just have to make all the rest of them pay for her."

"Hey, speaking of the mudblood, who here think Draco will kill her before anyone finds them?" the seventh year asked the whole room of Slytherins, about half of whom raised their hands.

"Nah, I don't think he will," another seventh year said, "even though we all hate to admit it, the mudblood it a freaking genius."

"She's not _that_ much smarter than Draco," Pansy said sounding highly offended. "Besides, I be he knows loads more curses than she does!"

"I agree," responded the seventh year, "but the mudblood probably know stuff that Draco does know too, so she might be useful to have around. You never know." Several of the Slytherins nodded in agreement.

"Well I don't care whether or not he kills that filthy mudblood! I just want him back here now!" Pansy cried. Most of the girls nodded and were wearing miserable expressions; the first years were all looking terrified, with Draco throwing his weight around as he always did they had almost begun to think that he was invincible.

A heavy silence then filled the Slytherin common room. Gradually, the seventh years filtered away from the group and returned to what they had been doing before. The younger years followed their lead until Pansy, Blaise, and Nott were the only ones left by the fire.

"I can't believe he's gone," Nott finally said. Blaise nodded, while Pansy remained stone-faced and silent, completely devoid of emotion save for the one tear making it's way slowly down her cheek.

- - - - - - - - - -

None of the three Gryffindors spoke on their way back to Gryffindor tower. When they arrived, Ginny quietly said the password to the Fat Lady, and the three climbed into the empty common room. Ginny sat in one of the armchairs by the fire looking from Harry to Ron with a frightened expression. Harry was sitting on the couch glaring into the fireplace and looking the way he normally did when he was about do something rash, Ron however was faring the worst of them all. He was pacing back and forth across the room, looking very much like a lion in a cage ready to attack the first thing that was unfortunate enough to cross its path. "What are we going to do?" he finally burst.

"Dumbledore already said, there's nothing we can do," moaned Ginny.

"We can't just do nothing! Hermione's god knows where with _Malfoy_!" argued Ron, "He'll probably end up killing her or something!"

It was a moment before Ginny responded, but when she did there was a definite whimper in her voice, though she did her best to hide it, "Ron, try to calm down. I'm sure that Hermione can handle herself around Malfoy. Besides, she's probably already found someone who's helping her back home even as we speak."

"But what if you're wrong?" Ron roared. "What if she's stuck somewhere, alone, with Malfoy? I know she's a better witch than he'll ever be, but physically, he's definitely stronger. What if he decides to ignore his wand and attacks her or something? I swear, when we find her, if I hear he's laid one hand on her I will murder him on the spot."

Ron was seething, and his outburst seemed to alight a fire in Harry as well, both were looking like madmen and if was really frightening Ginny. "Guys calm down!" she pleaded, "Hermione's not stupid, there's no way she'll let Malfoy get the upper hand, and there's no way she'll be caught off guard without her wand. So even if he is stronger, she'll just hex him before he has the chance to come near her."

Ginny viewed her brother with glassy eyes, hoping that he would calm down.

At first Ron just glowered back at her, but when he saw the fear in his little sister's eyes, he mellowed a little, "I'm sorry Ginny, and you're probably right," Ron forced himself to sit down, but remained very tense, "I'm just worried about her you know?"

"We all are Ron," Ginny fought back a sob as her tears began to drip down her face.

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No worries, we will rejoin Hermione and Draco in the next chapter (and we'll probably stay with them for a while after that) but I thought it was important to see what was going on back at Hogwarts too, so I hope you don't mind that. As always, I love to know what you all think, so please submit a review! Thanks!


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: ** Harry Potter and belongs to J.K. Rowling, not me.

**A/N:** Please don't hate me for taking so long to update. I've just had a ton of schoolwork (and hurricanes) to deal with, so I haven't had much time for fanfic writing. I'm doing my best to write more often, but I can't guarantee anything. Anyway, thank you very much to everyone who reviewed last chapter!

_pixiestars162_ – lol I think I know what you mean about Draco being evil in a good way, so I think it's possible. Not sure how truly good good Draco's gonna be in this fic so I'm glad you like him evil. lol thanks for the review!  
_FallenThrough_ – You will find out where they are when they find out, and at the moment I'm not sure when that will be. But I guarantee you that eventually you will know where they are. I'm glad you liked the chapter, and I hope you like this one too! (How's your fic coming?)  
_elektra30, Mistress Cosmos, steelo, modaprincesa, Athene Saile, smitten, Sunflower18, anIme-prYncess, midnightwanderer01_ – Thank you all! I hope everyone likes this chapter!

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**Chapter 6: Into the Forest**

Hermione stood in a panic in the center of the clearing for a good ten minutes before her brain recovered from the shock and began to function properly once again. It was then that she realized that Malfoy was still somewhere in the forest, leaving her all alone in this strange clearing, "Malfoy!" she cried out of desperation.

On an impulse, Hermione darted towards the trees where Malfoy had gone, but right before she tangled herself in the thorns and branches, she skidded to a stop. What was she doing? Why was she even compelled to follow him? He had just yelled at her, blamed her for whatever had happened to them, and injured her by throwing her to the ground, why should she care where he went? She was better off without hi and his evil negative attitude anyway. But then again, the thought of being alone in a strange forest with no clue where she was, or where to go wasn't all that inviting either. At a loss for anything else to do, she called out again, "Malfoy! Malfoy get back here!"

But she received no response. All she could hear now were the usual sounds of an active forest. Panic ensued again and she could feel herself beginning to break down. "Fine!" she screamed with a sob, "but if you die out there then it's your own bloody fault!"

Hermione dropped to the ground and hugged her knees to her chest. She buried her face in her hands and sobbed hysterically. It took quite a while for the tears to stop flowing, but eventually they did and Hermione was left feeling completely emotionally dried out. Yet in a way, the feeling was good for her, because it allowed her brain to regain control over every part of her body and mind.

She forced herself to stand, and then began walking in a random pattern around the clearing. 'Alright,' she began a mental pep-talk. 'It's ok, you're fine. Pretty soon Ron and Harry will realize you're gone, and then they'll tell Dumbledore he'll figure out what happened and then everything will be fine. They'll come here, bring you back home, you'll be nice and safe in the castle again, and by tomorrow this will feel like nothing more than an exciting dream. Yeah,' she smiled to herself, 'tomorrow Ron Harry and I will be laughing about this.' She took a relaxing breath and managed a fake smile. "Right then," she said aloud, "I'll just stay here until Dumbledore comes, and then everything will be back to normal."

Hermione sat cross-legged in the center of the clearing and cast the patronus charm just so she would have some company. The silvery otter ran a couple laps around her, but faded into nothingness when she attempted to touch it. She sighed and cast the charm again, but every time it lasted only a few short moments and in the end she found herself feeling even more alone than she had felt when she first sat down.

The longer she sat there, the more worried she grew. Even though she tried her best to fight it, she couldn't help but wonder where Malfoy was. He had just vanished into the forest without a word about where he was going or when he'd be back (if he planned on coming back at all that is.) Terrible thoughts began rushing through her head. 'What if something had attacked him and seriously injured him? Or worse, killed him!' The usual, caring side of Hermione was terrified by the idea, but a small, angry and vengeful voice inside her spoke up 'it would serve him right!' it said stubbornly.

Hermione vigorously shook her head to rid those evil thoughts from her mind, those were not appropriate thoughts to think no matter how much she hated Malfoy, she didn't really want him dead did she? After a momentary pause in which she seriously considered the options, she decided not to answer that question.

It was at that point that another possibility entered her mind which caused her to bolt upright back to a standing position. 'What if Malfoy had found someone to help? What if they knew how to get them back to Hogwarts? If he did, then he would definitely tell them that she was here wouldn't he? There's no way he'd go back to Hogwarts without her, everyone would know that he left her behind, right?' But even as she asked herself these questions, the answers as Malfoy would see them popped into her head. 'Of course he would leave me,' she moaned to herself, dropping back down to the dirt, 'He'd probably say they were attacked by something violent and he only just got away, while she was not so lucky. He certainly looked like he'd been attacked with all those thorn tears and scratches he had in his robes.'

Hermione curled up into a ball and began to whimper again. She forced herself not to cry by repeatedly muttering to herself, "Dumbledore's coming, everything's fine. Dumbledore's coming, everything's fine." She was focusing so much on her words that she sort of slipped into a trance, she had no idea how long she'd been sitting there muttering to herself. But as the air began to cool around her, and everything began to grow dark with the setting sun, the stronger the feeling that Dumbledore might not come, and that everything was not fine grew.

- - - - - - - - - -

Draco kept walking through the forest purely to get as far away from the mudblood as possible. It was her fault that they were here, that much he knew. But where the hell was here! The forest seemed to go on forever, and Draco hated it. He had hated forests ever since first year when he'd been forced to go into the Hogwarts forest to serve a detention with Potter, Granger, and Longbottom. Draco's lip curled to a sneer at the memory, those blasted Gryffindors were always fucking up his life

_"Malfoy,"_ Draco froze as he heard his name being called. He turned his head back towards the clearing and smirked, the mudblood was calling for him. 'Probably terrified out of her mind' Draco thought happily. Draco stood there considering whether or not to return to the clearing and taking his anger out on the mudblood some more since there was clearly no quick way out of this forest, but the thought of seeing her again was at the same time revolting.

Draco just began walking away again when the mudblood shouted for him to come back again. Draco smirked and continued on his way, he might return to the clearing in good time, just to see how badly the mudblood was faring. 'She's probably crying her eyes out' he thought with a malevolent satisfaction. Still, Draco kept walking, he was in no mood to be in the presence of that mudblood, and he wasn't going to sit around doing nothing. Deep down Draco kept moving forward with the hope that he would find something useful, a city or village, hell he'd settle for a random cottage. Anything that signified there were people somewhere in this forest. But no matter how far he walked, all he found were more trees, and the occasional small rodent-like animal which would scamper across Draco's path.

The sounds of the mudblood's pathetic attempts to call him back had long died out; they were lost to the rustling of the trees and noises of the small forest creatures. Draco was stomping his way through the forest when suddenly, out of nowhere a screeching beast raced into Draco's path. Draco let out a scream and whirled around to run away. However he did not get too far for just about as soon as he turned around, his foot caught on a branch and sent him crashing face first into a pile of mud. Behind him Draco heard a chattering, as if the stupid creature was laughing at him. Draco glared at it and found that the cause of his moment of panic was a furry rodent which was only slightly larger than a squirrel.

Draco was furious that a pathetic rodent had caused him to panic fall into the mud, neither of which were becoming for someone with the stature of a Malfoy. Now he was covered in smelly filth, and in a more foul temper than ever. His only cause for relief was that no one other than the rodent itself had been there to see the great Draco Malfoy fall. No one would ever have to know, and Draco could forget about it this exact moment. Draco half sneered half smirked to himself knowing that this one embarrassing moment could never come back to haunt him, and after cursing violently at the rodent, Draco continued on his way, following the same path he had been traveling before he had been interrupted.

Draco was still thinking horrid thoughts about what to do to all the forest animals, and to the bushes that snagged on his robes, causing more tears to shred through them, when a new sound reached his ears. Draco tried to identify the sound because it seemed familiar, but he could not seem to place it. The noise was constant and gentle, and judging by the fact that it was gradually getting louder the further he walked, he figured he must be getting closer to it. He began moving faster, and he could tell that it was just ahead of him when he realized what it was. Water! Draco ran passed the trees and let out a triumphant shout at the sight of the cool, refreshing water. It was just a small river, no more like a large stream, but it was cold, refreshing, crystal clear water. Draco dropped to his knees at the water's edge and dipped his hands, which were still gloved in dirt, into it. As soon as the water touched his skin, it began to remove the dirt in small brown swirls, leaving his hands looking as perfect, pale and pristine as usual. Draco cupped his hands together and scooped some of the water up to his face, vigorously washing that as well. He ran his hands through his hair a few times, causing it to fall back around his eyes in damp clumps. Draco then dipped his hands into the stream again and raised the water to his lips to take a drink. He didn't realize how parched he was until the water reached his throat, and then he felt as though he could never get enough.

After satisfying his thirst, Draco felt a demanding rumble in his stomach. He glanced at his watch and saw that it was well passed dinner time. Draco sneered since he had no other choice than to find something to eat here in the forest. But what was he supposed to find other than leaves and sticks? He supposed that he could catch a fish and cook that over a fire, but he hadn't seen any fish in the stream. With an angry groan, Draco looked up and down the stream; it didn't seem as though it mattered which way he went, so he chose to turn right and travel along the water's edge.

A few times, he passed by clumps of bushes which were growing bright red, delicious looking berries but Draco did not eat them. He was very wary of this forest with its strange trees and freaky rodents. The berry bushes looked harmless, but who knows whether or not they were poisonous. Draco certainly was not about to find out for himself, 'that would be a good job for the mudblood though' he thought to himself with a smirk. Draco then began to amuse himself with thoughts of how panicked the mudblood must be. 'She probably actually expected me to come back,' he thought with a chuckle, 'the idiot.'

It was then that a particularly cool breeze pulled Draco from his thoughts about Granger. The forest suddenly seemed much colder and darker than it had been a short while ago, and Draco's senses were once again put into overdrive. He heard every snapping twig and rustling leaf, his eyes seemed to play trick on him by causing him to think he was seeing creatures moving just beyond the bushes at his side. Instinctively he took out his wand, "lumos," he whispered, causing a ball of light to form on the tip of his wand.

He now faced a real dilemma. It would be foolish for him to keep walking in the dark; the light from his wand would make him easy prey. Plus, anything that did decide to chase him would certainly be able to navigate the forest better than Draco could. But at the same time, stopping here would be suicide. He couldn't start a fire, no matter how cold he was because the light and heat from the flames would draw far too much attention. He was stuck between Scylla and Charybdis, as the myth goes, and in the end he decided that the best option was too keep moving. But just as he did so, a particularly loud snap followed by a rustling of the leaves which had nothing to do with the wind caused him to stop dead in his tracks. Draco jerked the light towards the sound, but only saw darkness beyond the small circle of wandlight with the surge of panicked adrenaline coursing through him, Draco sped away, only stopping when he tripped over a fallen branch and came crashing down. He instinctively held his hands out in front of him to break his fall, but in the process, he let go of the wand and the light went out.

Draco's eyes were wide, as if that would help him see better in the blackness of the night. But the darkness of the forest was so great that his eyes could not adjust. He felt at the ground around him for his wand, but found nothing except leaves, sticks, dirt, and rocks. Draco sat with his knees up and dropped his head into his hands. To his surprise, one of his hands was wet. It was only then that the pain in the base of his palm registered, he must have cut it when he fell. With a harsh sweep of his sleeve, Draco wiped the blood off his face. He sat there, hardly moving, with nothing but feelings of pain, hunger and anger to occupy him for hours. He knew that he should try to sleep because in the morning he would have to continue moving, and he would need to be alert. But sleep never found Draco, and he was left sitting there all alone and awake all night until the rays of the morning sun passed through the trees and kissed his pale skin.

- - - - - - - - - -

A sharp screech sounded from somewhere in the forest, causing Hermione to jerk out of her sleep, though she did not know what had caused her abrupt wake-up call. Hermione opened her eyes to find herself lying on her side in the dirt; she instantly bolted upright panicking because she could not remember where she was or how she'd got there. She whipped her head around and as she viewed the clearing, the memories of what had happened flooded back into her head. She and Malfoy had been studying, and then they had somehow been transported here. Malfoy had vanished last night in the forest and apparently was not coming back. Hermione had been waiting for Dumbledore to come save her, but apparently he wasn't coming either, and sometime during the night, she had fallen asleep on the cold hard ground.

Hermione stood and stretched out, her body was sore from her uncomfortable night's rest, and her stomach was growling, demanding that she eat something soon. Hermione glanced around the clearing again, but did not see anything at all edible. She bit her lip, it seemed as though she would have to leave the safely of the clearing if she wanted to find something to eat. But then again, there was no guarantee that she would be able to find food in the forest either.

Just then another screech sounded from the forest, causing Hermione to scream, and dart away from the sound. Little did she know that the creature, whatever it was, was nearer than it had been when it woke her up. Hermione could feel the hairs on her arms and neck standing on end, and her breathing was ragged. She didn't know what to do, she knew that she could not stay in the clearing, she would starve, and something would inevitably find her here anyway. But something would find her in the forest too, and then she might have a harder time getting away. Of course she still had her wand, so that would probably protect her, from anything dangerous, and the forest was bound to have food somewhere, after all there were creatures in the forest, and they all had to be eating something.

With her mind made up, Hermione took a deep breath, and marched towards the forest. She chose to travel in the same direction as Malfoy had gone, a small subconscious part of her probably hoped that she would somehow be able to find him if she went in the same direction. As much as she hated him, she had to admit that traveling together had to be better than wandering the forest alone. She only hoped he would agree, if she ever managed to find him of course.

Hermione crept slowly and carefully through the trees, her eyes and ears open for anything, and her wand ready in her hand. Her spirits lifted whenever she saw a small piece of fabric snared on a bush because that indicated that she was still following Malfoy's path, which for some reason gave her hope. She wasn't sure exactly what she was hoping for, maybe she was hoping that following Malfoy's path would lead her to safety because in a part of her mind, she had the feeling that he would have come back unless he found somewhere safe to stay. Then again, perhaps she merely hoped that by following his path, she would find him, and then she would not be lost out here alone anymore.

Her improved mood only lasted so long however. Her stomach was now steadily rumbling, yet she had seen nothing in the way of food, not even any berry bushes to munch on. She was also rather disturbed to find that the trees were beginning to grow further apart, which meant that there was probably something very big living in this forest, and if Hermione learned anything from Hagrid's monsters, the bigger it was, the meaner it was. In addition to that terrifying realization, since the trees were far apart now, it meant that there were no more traces of which way Malfoy had gone, cause his robes had not snagged on any more bushes. She halted her progress, wanting to cry. Now she was completely lost, she had no clue which direction Malfoy had gone, so she could only hope he had continued going straight, and there was some huge monster in the forest which probably wanted to eat her as a mid-morning snack.

Hermione refused to allow herself to break down, so instead she kept moving forward. Eventually she passed a huge mud puddle, which she edged her way around, but the sight made her thrilled. Not because a puddle of mud anything, but because from that puddle, there were muddy shoe prints, which meant Malfoy was here. Hermione laughed at the thought of him falling face first into the mud, 'that would certainly serve him right' she thought with a nasty grin. Gradually, the footprints disappeared of course, but they had nevertheless continued in a strikingly straight line, which gave her hope that he had continued going straight for as long as he walked.

Hermione felt like she had been walking for hours when she began to see little forest creatures crossing her path. She smiled because she thought they were cute, but for the most part, they managed to dart across her path before she could get a good enough look to see what they actually were. Hermione stooped low to the ground and tried to coax a couple of the animals towards her, but her efforts only seemed to scare them further away.

She made to try again when a distant roar sounded through the forest. Hermione jerked up. Luckily, the sound seemed to be from a good distance away, so she did not feel that she was in immediate danger, but still the knowledge that there really were dangerous creatures here was very unsettling. She waited silently for a few moments to see if she heard the roar again, but no more sounds came.

She breathed a small sigh of relief as she stood and wiped some beads of sweat from her forehead, according to her watch it was only 10 am, but it was already sweltering and she was forced to remove her robe so that she wouldn't pass out from overheating. Now the need for water vastly outweighed her desire for food. She knew there had to be water somewhere because there had to be somewhere for all the animals to drink, but she did not know where that was, and all the animals were too speedy for her to follow them. She tied her robe across her waist because she knew she would need it during the night, and then she moved on. She ignored the fears of dangerous creatures which were attempting to invade her mind and instead filled her mind with determination, determination to find water, determination to find food, and determination to get home.

- - - - - - - - - -

As soon as the sunrise hit his face, Draco opened his eyes to the world around him. He had not actually fallen to sleep, but he hadn't exactly been awake either. Immediately, Draco's sharp eyes scanned the ground beneath him for his wand, but it was nowhere to be seen. He ran his fingers across the dirt, overturning twigs and leaves, hoping to find it somewhere, but it seemed to have disappeared. Whether it had fallen further into the forest, into the steam, or whether some creature had found it and decided to chew on it, Draco did not know. All he knew was that he was now stuck in the woods by himself with no wand, and therefore no powerful means of protection.

Draco let out a furious primal sounding roar of anger and frustration. He could hear the small creatures hidden in the bushes around him scattering away from him. "Yeah!" he shouted after them, "get out of here!"

Draco continued searching for his wand, going further and further into the forest without ever losing sight of the stream. The water had become something of a landmark to him, and he instinctively knew that he had to keep close to it if he had any hopes of survival. But after searching for quite a while and finding no sign of his wand, Draco dejectedly returned to the stream.

He sank to his knees next to the water's edge, cleaned himself off, and took several large gulps of water. He stared into the cool clear depths, while drops of water fell from his hair back into the stream. He was about to stand up when he felt something nudge him in the side. He whipped his head around, but saw nothing. Again he felt the nudge, but he knew there was nothing there. He stood up, and again felt something nudging his side, finally realizing what it was; Draco reached his hand into his pocket and pulled out the silver panther statue. It stalked across Draco's palm, and Draco felt an intense desire to chuck the stupid statue as far into the forest as he could, merely to release some of his anger. Yet he resisted the urge, the statue somehow made him feel better, as if he wasn't really alone out here. Instead of throwing the statue away, he clutched it tightly in his fist. Perhaps he was just imagining it, but he seemed to feel a tiny surge of energy flow between him and the statue as he held it tight.

Then he spied some more of the berry bushes he had seen the day before, and he held the panther out towards them. "What do you think?" he asked it, not feeling at all weird about talking to his statue anymore, "Are those safe to eat?"

The panther seemed to understand him, and it sniffed at the deliciously red berries. It then opened its mouth wide and closed it around one of the berries. The panther turned his head back to Draco and appeared to be trying to thrust the berry to him. Draco took that to mean that the berries were safe, so he took the berry in between his index finger and thumb and shrugged, "if you say so."

He popped the berry into his mouth, chewed and swallowed. It had a rather sour, yet not entirely unpleasant taste. He waited a few moments to see if anything bad suddenly started happening to him. When it didn't he thrust the panther back inside his pocket and began collecting all the berries he could and shoving them all in his mouth. His stomach welcomed the incoming food, and after ravaging nearly the entire bush, Draco finally slowed to a stop.

He felt a small weight on his shoulder, and turned his head to find that the panther had apparently climbed from his pocket up to his shoulder. "Thanks" Draco said. The panther stepped forward and licked some of the berry juice off of Draco's face. Draco wiped the rest off with his hand, and then washed himself for the second time that morning in the stream.

Having been fed and washed, Draco felt much better about continuing on his way, his watch told him that it was only 8am, so he had a long day of traveling ahead of him, and he could only hope that it would be as uneventful as the day before had been. So Draco set forth, with the panther on his shoulder. Occasionally as he would pass by the berry bushes and he would stop to collect some (and eat a few more as well). Soon his pockets were bulging with berries, but Draco didn't mind as it guaranteed him food for later in case he needed it.

Draco had been walking for what felt like miles, and he had been lulled into a false sense of security due to the complete lack of threatening looking creatures. However, all that changed when a sudden cautionary growl sounded in his ear. Draco froze and nearly panicked before he realized that the growling was coming from his panther statue. That allowed him to relax a bit, but he continued to remain motionless and tense as he scanned the forest for whatever it was that had instigated the panther's growl.

He finally spotted it about 15 meters ahead of him, rustling in the bushes. A sinking feeling of dread spread through Draco's stomach as the beast emerged from the trees to take a drink at the stream. The beast was large and grayish purple, and Draco's eyes widened at the two extremely sharp horns which adorned its head. Draco was sure he had seen a picture of this creature in some book, and while he could not remember its name, he remembered enough to know that this creature was extremely dangerous.

Draco's first thought was to run in the opposite direction, but he stopped himself when he remembered that even if the beast somehow did not see his movements, it would most certainly hear him, and that would probably be just as bad. Either way the beast would probably chase after him, which was the last thing he wanted.

Instead, Draco stood stock still, praying that the creature would just go away after it had had its fill of water. Draco could feel small beads of sweat tickling his brow and he itched to wipe them away. The beast appeared to have stopped drinking, but now it was sniffing at the air. Draco felt his heart begin to race even faster, what if the thing smelled him? He had to get away now before the thing decided to turn him into lunch. Draco's eyes darted around for the safest place to run, but the only logical choice seemed to be to run into the woods and hope the beast lost track of him in the trees.

Draco inched his foot back so slowly one would question whether he was moving at all. He shifted his weight to his back foot, and then slowly began to move the other foot back. This proved to be a mistake, for when he put his foot back down on the ground and shifted the weight, he caused a twig to snap, and brought the beast's attention directly to him. For an agonizingly long second, the creature and Draco merely stared at each other, Draco wearing a look of wide-eyed terror, the creature appearing curious.

However, after that second, the creature seemed to decide that he did not approve of Draco, and with a loud roar which seemed to sound throughout the entire forest, he began charging at Draco. The adrenaline in Draco's blood took over before his brain could, and Draco found himself darting as fast as his legs would carry him through the forest. He didn't bother to look back because he could hear the sound of the beast's footsteps gaining on him. Suddenly, Draco felt a tug on his robes; the beast apparently had pounced at him, but had only succeeded in tearing his robes.

Draco paid no attention to where he was going; he just continued sprinting as fast as he could. He could feel a stitch forming in his side due to erratic breathing, but he couldn't let it slow him down, if he did, it would very literally be the death of him. Draco closed his eyes to take his mind off the pain, and opened them again just barely in time to see a huge tree trunk in front of him. He leapt sideways, but lost his footing and crashed painfully on his side.

Draco turned and tried to back up on his hands and feet as fast as possible. He locked eyes with the beast, and he could still hear the panther growling ferociously at the beast, though it didn't seem to be helping any. The beast crept forward, its teeth bared menacingly. Draco saw it crouch down to pounce again, and he knew it was the end, there was no way he could escape before it came at him again.

But fate seemed to have a different plan in mind. Just at the creature made to pounce, a huge limb came out of nowhere and hit the creature directly in the side with such a force that the beast was thrown into another tree. The creature growled a mixture of anger and pain, but it seemed to know better than to come near the whomping willow again. It cast a hate-filled glare at Draco before disappearing back into the darkness of the forest.

Draco barely had time to catch his breath when he heard the threatening cracking and groaning of the willow's limbs. He knew he had to get away before the tree attacked him too, so ignoring the wincing pain he felt all over his body; Draco forced himself up and ran out of range of the tree's deadly branches. He then sank against the trunk of a harmless tree to catch his breath. He now had no clue where the river was, nor could he tell where the clearing was either. Now he was even more lost than before because he did not know for sure which direction he had been heading. All he knew was which way the beast had gone, and he sure as hell was not going that way.

In the meantime, Draco gave himself what he deemed to be a well deserved break. He slipped his hand into his pocket, intending to munch on a few berries, only to find that his fingers were covered in a sticky red juice. "Fuck," he groaned, the berries must have gotten squashed in his pocket while he was running from the beast. Draco licked the berry juice off his fingers, "brilliant," he sighed sarcastically as his mind thought over everything he had already been through this morning. "Just bloody brilliant."

* * *

So the adventure in the forest has finally begun (and to anyone who may be wondering, yes this is still a DM/HG fic, it's just going to take a while for that to happen.) ;o)

Also a quick note just for reference: At one point in this chapter Draco said he was stuck between Scylla and Charybdis, so I just wanted to explain where that saying comes from so that no one is confused. Scylla and Charybdis are too monsters from Homer's Odyssey. Scylla had several heads, and Charybdis was basically a gigantic whirlpool with teeth. The saying 'stuck between Scylla and Charybdis' is synonymous with 'stuck between a rock and a hard place' meaning that there is no easy way out of a given situation.

I believe that's all for now, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, and I will work hard to get the next one up sooner. In the meantime, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it, so please submit a review! Thanks!


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